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Against Me! + The Disables, A Death In The Family Enigma Bar , Thurs 25 Feb To be honest, although I probably should have checked at least a couple of times, I've got no idea what the crowd were doing while Melbourne's A Death In The Family were playing since I was completely transfixed by the band and their music. They were interesting and rhythmically clever whilst still providing plenty of melody. To draw some comparisons (which was hard because the comparisons changed with each song), think Jawbreaker crossed with Hot Water Music crossed with (and I know this sounds a bit bizarre) really early Screamfeeder. Clever guitarwork (including a female guitarist), an awesome rhythm section made them a joy to watch. Second support act The Disables were a completely different story; not in a good or bad way, just different. I already sort of knew what to expect from their widely played single ASIO. I wasn't surprised either, they played with passion with the vocalists spitting every word out. There was a fair bit of movement in the crowd during their set coming mainly from the mohawk, ripped clothing brigade. I saw Against Me! last time they toured and they were awesome; and judging by the crowd that turned up this time around, everyone else thought they were awesome as well. From the first song the crowd was a constantly moving entity with arms popping out every now and then, with the swathing mass of people always on the verge of flooding the stage. During almost every song the microphones were taken over by members of the crowd and sometimes the screams of the crowd were loud enough to be heard in the breaks in the music. Although all of their material falls on the brilliant side, I find their slower angrier music to be the stuff that really hits you. It was for that reason that the highlight of the night for me was the singalong Sink, Florida, Sink from their 'As The Eternal Cowboy' record, as was T.S.R and Rice And Bread. From 'Searching For A Former Clarity' the cream for the night was Justin and Miami, although they actually only played Miami after the crowd spontaneously broke into singing the lyrics in the silence between songs. When the band announced their last song, the crowd really came into it's own. Guitarist singer Tom Habel put his guitar down and launched himself into the crowd; and perhaps because he invaded their space, the crowd decided that it was just fine to invade the band's space. No longer was there any divide between crowd and band. During the song, instruments randomly cut out until it was just one guitarist and the drummer playing. The song finished, the band left the stage and the crowd was left in a sweaty mess waiting for an encore that would never come. It just wasn't possible: the stage was a site of destruction, amps were knocked over, microphones had either disappeared or were left lying on the ground. I haven't seen a crowd invasion like that since Pennywise in 1995. Yes, I am old.  |
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