Black Bear Lodge is renowned in Brisbane for its intimate feel, guarantee of a good time and excellent tastes in home-grown music. Imperative of this, the locals flocked to their watering hole to appreciate what was to be a quality night of musicianship.
The first act up was Rinse, wringing an impressive crowd considering their early time slot. Borrowing sounds from early shoegaze with a penchant for hooky yet monotonously toned lyrics, the six-member band created a layered sound ideal for the night’s musical tastings.
In good spirits, Rinse moved confidently on stage. “I Don’t Feel That Good Anymore,” “Point” and “Something’s Got To Break” were highlights of their set, filling the venue with a few timid dancers and a sea of bopping heads.
The standard set for the night, the crowd were in good spirits by the time Babaganouj came on. Wines and beers in the crowd and on the stage made for an easy going, friendly atmosphere; lead singer and ex-Yves Klein Blue guitarist Charles Sale beginning their set with a solo performance and then inviting a member to the stage on one at a time.
It was an interesting if odd idea, introducing band members song by song. If anything it created a showcase of the different genres they were capable of creating. The four-piece as a whole however were much more complex and true sounding.
“Pilot Light,” their first full band effort was far more prominent and the night continued on a higher scale from there. Sale’s negative attitude was somewhat amusing, before “Love Loathe Love You” stating dryly “let’s see how badly we fuck this one up.”
However bad they thought their performance was though, they were entertaining to watch and the crowd were having a great time. Babaganouj had a great energy and the eager punters picked that up over their lack of technical dexterity.
The venue was completely packed by the time Major Leagues arrived on stage. Without introduction the foursome jumped straight into their first song, the quality of the music immediately obvious.
Unfortunately there seemed to be some microphone difficulties at the beginning but in all honesty Major Leagues sounded so tight instrumentally alone, that it was difficult to be put out. It was fantastic watching the three girls taking control on stage, messing with fuzz and feedback and showing total musical prowess.
Intelligent indie-pop cascaded through Black Bear Lodge, fans at the front wildly dancing and those more mellow at the back with smiles on their faces.
A highlight was the surprise Splendora cover; the theme song for the animated TV show Daria. Major Leagues transformed if only for a moment into a hard rocking punk band and it was a total pleasure to see.
The band threw out merchandise somewhat hazardously in the general direction of anyone who could name the band who wrote ‘You’re Standing On My Neck’ and then CDs of their new single ‘Endless Drain’ which they then proceeded to perform with vigour.
Accompanied it seemed somewhat spontaneously from the girls of Brisbane’s Go Violets and Jeremy Neale, ‘Endless Drain’ was all surf pop and dancing and good times. The vibe the band created was amazing, it was impossible to have a mediocre time while they were having such an amazing one on stage.
Something to be noted about Major Leagues, disregarding them as a clear crowd favourite, was their obvious respect for their support acts. In a hilarious manor they thanked the bands and at the same time hassled the crowd into buying their merchandise.”
That was the type of easy going banter thrown back and forth the entire night. It was as if those on stage and those in the crowd were all close friends just hanging out, listening to an excellent display of local music and having a ball. A great show.
