The Pictures, The Vandas, The Inches, Bakelite Age @ The Corner Hotel. Saturday, The 2nd Of July
The Inches opened up the show with “Never Sleep” and a strong set with catchy rock tunes like “S.O.S” and “Bad Reputation” in an energetic performance that included an awesome cover of Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin”. The only difference being that Andrew Ferz in more interesting to watch than Ian Gillan. The Inches finished with “Undercover” and by far outshone and outclassed the next act, Bakelite Age. The Vandas, however are worthy of the name they took from Harry Vanda, talented songwriter and member of 60’s Australian rock group, The Easybeats. The Vandas show a lot of promise and talent and have a strong following in Melbourne already. Their set included three tracks from their latest EP, Didn’t come here to be alone as well as “Right Time” and “3 Steps” finishing a 10 song set with “Drag” before The Pictures came out and opened up with “Knocked Out” to the cheers from the audience. This was followed by “Stupid Me”. The Pictures played seven songs in total from their self titled album and finished with the singles “Pissin’ With The Catman”. Davey Lane had the audience in the palm of his hand as they screamed for more, the encore consisted of two songs including a cover in the set.
Hey Gringo “Three” CD Launch goes off
Hey gringo were in fine form last night at The Rainbow to re-launch their long awaited third CD, titled “three”
The night kicked off with a set that included “Go Your Own Way” and “No Doubt About it” as well as a few songs with guest Mike Rudd that warmed the crowd up before taking a short break. The second set was started with the boys from Spectrum joining Hey Gringo onstage for “You Know What I Mean” and Spectrum classic “I Wanna Know”, before another special guest, Ross Wilson took to the stage singing both songs co-written with Daryl Roberts, “Old Country Road” and a fantastic version of “Can’t Love Myself Today” before another short break. The final set for the night was packed with Hey Gringo classics, starting with “12 Bar Blues” followed by “Ticket To Go”. A few songs later, drummer Les Oldman requested “Soul” before “Past 35”. The night was finished off with “Now’s The Time” and the “prophetic” “Face Myself”. An all round fun night was had by all, congratulations to all involved.
On a disappointing note however, I would like to report a sad farewell to one of Melbourne’s most beloved rock venues, The Duke Of Windsor is closing this week. Quite frankly, I want to say, it’s outrageous. What is they world coming to? Is someone going to close down The Tote next? Bands like Jet, Dallas Crane, The Pictures and The Casanovas (just to name a few) started off there. The Sparrows were given a mini residency there. It’s the only good small venue in that area and it’s being closed down. A piece of Australian music industry is closing folks, and it’s nothing to rejoice about. This venue also played host to some of Australia’s greatest rock bands like AC/DC, The Angels and Midnight Oil. I now understand how Billy Thorpe felt when they shut Surf City. It’s a damn shame that a good Australian rock venue is being turned into a pizza parlour with doof doof and foreign beer. It’s been taken over by the people that own Bimbos Deluxe, so there’s no hope that the new owners are going to keep the sacred venue’s original purpose. The closing of the Duke is going to make it harder for younger bands to get gigs. The Duke played host to events such as “Rock wars” where rock bands could try their wares against each other. Jet’s Nic Cester has sited The Duke’s staff as being some of the first to have faith in Jet. Smaller venues are also necessary for younger bands to help alleviate the pressure on going from playing a few gigs, to trying to pack out bigger venues and the closing of this venue, is shutting the doors on opportunities for so many younger rock bands. I think I’ll boycott bimbos from now on. . .
Posted at 02:46 am by angel_039_95
