“28 Days can…”
“Fuck off!”
“28 Days can…”
“Fuck off!”
“28 Days can…” punk rock the Zoo like crazy people on their “10 Years of Cheap Fame” final tour.
It’s not like me to use expletives in a review, however the mantra this hard working band has built over their career is a musical war cry that has consistently rallied the 28 Days tribe of followers, so needs to be quoted warmly and accurately. Tonight, the boys do their utmost to convey their love of the audience, their regret at having to say goodbye (more on that later) and their drive to put on a show tonight that is befitting of a suitably amped Brisvegasian crowd.
Supporting 28 Days on the QLD and NSW legs of the tour, forerunners Nine Iron are loud, fast and noisy. Machine-gunning out energy packed pop punk, there is little movement away from rapid bar chord progressions, simple bass lines and shouty vocals – but the punters are enjoying it, with some even responding to the droll bong-smokin’ banter offered up in between tracks. Again, the energy and commitment to the performance was obviously high so hopefully touring with 28 Days will influence this young band away from pure noise and toward some melody development. Shades and varied landscapes within songs, even shouty thrashesk skater punk, go along way to raising interest in what you play and say. Guitarists will want to learn the licks and your audience will stop and sing-a-long rather than play pool, shout at their mates over you or use the time to order another beer / bourbon from the bar.
When second support act Wendy Icon take to the stage it’s somehow become 1989 again. Is it Skid Row or Warrant that have jumped up and taken over the place with screeches and flounces of their long blonde hair? If we’re moving through music chronologically, this is the progression from Wolfmother and the precursor to another Nirvana (bring that on!). Gunners are touring soon, well Axl is, and Poison have just released and are touring on the back of a new album of fan-requested-covers titled Poisoned . It’s bad, it’s fun and it’s seemingly on it’s way back. Get out your blow dryers boys and get ready for the resurgence of Hair Metal. These guys from South Australia have embraced the look and the sound and do it very, very well. Scarily so. Each song was delivered with all of the fan fare, theatrics and commitment to grinningly-delivered cock rock those of us who were watching MTV in the late eighties witnessed the first time around. Throwing an immaculate cover of AC/DC’s Highway to Hell into the mix of self-composed anthems of fun, booze and women garnered a huge reaction from the crowd and had a number of us moving closer to the stage just to make sure hearing and seeing was believing – happily finding that yes, that really is acid wash denim.
By the time 28 Days assemble up front, lead singer Jay Dunne is wobbly and proclaims to all that he is heading towards a state of complete inebriation, not unlike the majority of the crowd. All are generous and welcoming, here to see one of their favourite Oz bands out in a crescendo of applause, shouting, dancing, singing, crowd surfing and security-goon dodging. Dunne’s condition does nothing to detract from the performance as he gushingly reminds us (on a number of occasions) that this is their last gig in Brisbane, that they love and thank everyone and that tonight they will play all the crowd favourites one after another after another. And boy do they. There is a lot of material that they could have gone through having such a prolific 10 year stint on the scene, on our radios and on the side stages of our festivals; but they remain true to their word and stick to the sing-a-long singles, much to everyone’s delight – Kool, Here We Go, Rip It Up, Say What?, Take Me Away, Song for Jasmine, What’s the Deal – all there.
Much could be raved about, but what remain are the highlights – dedicating Goodbye to Butterfingers as a Brissy band they don’t know personally but truly admire; acknowledging the unwavering support and energy of Brisbane audiences, reminiscing on gigs of yore in the vast barn that is the Waterloo; ensuring that overly enthusiastic punters who mount the stage and try to hug the beegeezus out of each band member aren’t thrown out by security but brought back in because, in the words of Dunne “He’s paid to be here man, bring him back. Come on bring him back, he’s just having fun.” And, not least, on hearing that one of (if not the) major reasons the band is calling it a day is the lack of patronage at their last round of gigs – so the money or the simple life honey? The fact is, the money’s not good – a lesson for us all. If you want your favourite band to keep gigging, keep making the sounds you love, keep recording and break the seal on a decade or two – buy, rather than download, their albums and go see them every chance you get or they too may have to bid you a heartfelt farewell.
28 Days can, and have, fucked off.
