We’re all about, y’know, actually paying to support bands who are putting on an amazing show for us, but at the same time there’s nothing that can make an amazing gig all the sweeter than having somehow weaseled your way into the place for free.
Whether it’s that glamorous feeling of nabbing some VIP passes, or the surprise that comes with tagging along to see an unfamiliar band just for the free ticket, only to be blown away – free gigs can be some of the most memorable. And hey, at the very least it means that suddenly those overpriced bevs don’t seem quite so bad.
With the huge – and entirely free – Mountain Goat Valley Crawl about to descend on Brissy’s Fortitude Valley for its second year on Saturday Feb 11, there’s about to be plenty of free music to be had courtesy of bands like Butterfingers, Moses Gunn Collective, Alice Ivy, WAAX, Polish Club and 20 others across a bunch of or favourite venues.
We’ve taken the chance to chat with a bunch of these bands about their best free gig experiences they’ve ever scored, from drug-fuelled psych fests and dingy Laos bars to that most coveted ticket of all – a free pass to see Hanson.
I Know Leopard – Justin Vernon
“Justin Vernon at the Sydney Opera House for Vivid 2013. My friend Crystal and I scored free side stage tickets to the sold out show on the night because we told the girl at the ticket box we worked for JB HI-FI. The show was phenomenal, but we spent half of it recovering from the shock of the success of our implausible plan.” – Rosie
Moses Gunn Collective – Schpongle
“I swindled my way into a Schpongle gig in Goa, India, a couple of years ago. I don’t know much about psy trance, but the shrooms, happy water, remote beach and hectic pyrotechnic show was quite the combo! Good times.” – Aidan
MAX CHILLEN And The Kerbside Collective – Future Islands
“As a dirt poor uni student, the news that Future Islands tend to leave two tickets to every show they play hidden somewhere in the city they’re visiting had me anxiously loitering around the Valley, obsessively refreshing the band’s Instagram. When they finally posted a photo of the “secret location” I legged it as fast as my weak skeletal body could muster, only to have my dreams crushed by some bloke in a high-vis work shirt who had claimed the tickets as his own.
“Skulking home, I made a number of Facebook posts seeking some monetary or ticket-related help, which resulted in some nice thirty year old dude simply giving me the ticket he had planned to sell.
“The gig was insane. Samuel T. Herring is truly fantastic; I felt like I was getting a full body work-out just watching him dance. Having scored a place against the barrier, I was lucky enough to share a lovely moment with Mr Herring wherein he held my hand for my favourite verse of my favourite Future Islands song.
“Unfortunately, because I’m a tremendous greedy dickhead I had to go ahead and spoil that moment with an attempted second meaningful interaction, which ended up being some nightmarish fist-bump/high-five mix-up.” – Darcy
ALICE IVY – Motley Crue
“Motley Crue is the best gig I ever went to for free. Why? Because it’s a show that I would never buy a ticket to (got freebies through a friend of a friend), it was so spontaneous seeing this band play, experiencing the crowd and Tommy Lee playing the drums upside-down on a rollercoaster with a full-on light/fire show. Rock on!”
San Mei – Hanson
“Mother bought me a ticket to see Hanson live in concert and I’m not ashamed, and I think it’s self-explanatory as to why this is the best free gig, because HANSON.”
BUTTERFINGERS – Dingy Laos Bar
“A few years back while on a holiday to Laos, my girlfriend and I went to a backstreet ‘nightclub’ as it was the only place we could get a drink at 9pm on a Thursday in that particular small town (can’t even remember the name). It felt kinda rough and there were a lot of eyes staring at us as we entered, and we quickly realised we were the only westerners in the place.
“The club was super dark so we got our drinks and we went and sat in a very dimly lit booth and tried to stay low key. There was a local band playing covers and it wasn’t long before they broke into some kind of nationally-recognised love song that had a dance to go with it and suddenly every couple in the venue was joining a circle on the dance floor in a waltz. We stayed put until security approached us & told us we were required to dance.
“It felt heavy so we did, but then suddenly, everyone thought we were the coolest cats in town. Everyone was smiling at us saying ‘Yes, Yes’. I guess they were thinking we were up there of our own free will.
“Anyway, lots of free drinks, miscommunications and a very loose version of ‘Hotel California’ with all the Ls an Rs in the wrong places later, we were quite drunk and having a wonderful time. I even did some crowd surfing. Best gig ever. – Evil Eddie
Future Haunts – Royal Headache
“Royal Headache and Kitchens Floor playing inside a boxing ring in the Valley in some sweaty ass muay thai gym. It was packed, there were free beers and there were people jumping off the corner posts into the crowd, WWE style. I think we had to line up for ages pretty early – but totally worth it.” – Ben
WAAX – Sheer Mag
“Chris and Maz’s favourite band from Philly finally came to Australia and we scored some comps – it was at the Brightside. Sheer Mag (if you haven’t checked them out, you really should) are one of the best live bands we have seen. I really idolise Tina (the singer), mainly because she has this magnetic vibe – so much so she doesn’t even need to move. Her aura is punk to the core.
“Anyway, we were already ecstatic to get in for free – the good vibes were strong. I don’t know how Chris managed to strike up a conversation with her at the bar, but I turned around and there she was. I asked if I could buy her a drink – without hesitation she said ‘tequila’ .
“It was a good time, what I can remember – because it was ‘fill in the blank’ after we all got deep in the tequila – but I got a photo. I don’t know why we posed like that, but it’s the sassiest photo I own.”
DREAMTIME – Austin Psych Fest
“Acid Mothers Temple live at Austin Psych Fest 2014 was amazing. It started off with a synchronised explosion of fast Japanese psychedelic noise garage that was initially so loud it was like a grenade had gone off and everything went quiet. I realised I had become deaf and tried to talk and shout and then scream and couldn’t hear a thing except for a high pitch frequency.
“Slowly I regained hearing over the next 60 seconds while they continued playing fast and explosively but what was initially a shrill painful burst of sound had become rolled back, dusty, very nice-sounding tones – it was like you needed to be temporarily deafened to be able to hear their music like they hear it.
“We got in for free because we played the festival. Backstage was a very strange place of hectic madness, real groupies and musicians flying off their tits on 2C-I, I think it was – too much of a hectic scene for us until we found the holydrug couple very relaxed and stoned in a hammock; we made friends and they offered us some mushrooms. Later on, wild animalistic jams ensued in the camping area with people having sex in all of the surrounding tents.
“I later discovered Tara asleep standing up, leaning on a pole at one of the stages; it was all a little too over-stimulating for us. Though, I did see Roky Erickson (The 13th Floor Elevators) walking around backstage with a giant enlightened grin upon his face as he walked around with 20 photographers encircling him at all times. That would be on my bucket list if I had one!” – Zac
Gill Bates – Travis Scott
“LISTEN OUT 2016! TRAVIS SCOTT. Fucking awesome! The Rodeo was everything we hoped it would be!”
Average Art Club – Bigsound
“Our local council sponsored us and paid for our conference passes and accommodation to go to Bigsound ’13. After watching heaps of rad artists speak, we somehow got given the leftover VIP invitations to a Stonefield party. We got a bit too keen on the free booze and were definitely a bit too drunk and fan-girly around Stonefield and Kingswood.” – Lisa
Angharad Drake – C.W. Stoneking
“C.W Stoneking at The Triffid, Oct 31st, 2015. That guy never fails to impress and only gets better each time I see him play. His show at the Triffid was one of my favs; he had these two amazing backup singers who really nailed the stuff from his latest record. A cool moment from the show was C.W solo on his resonator singing ‘Talking Lion Blues’.”
Sweater Curse – Seekae
“The best free show I’ve ever been to was Seekae at Bigsound in 2014. I’ve loved them as a band for ages, but it was the first show I had seen of theirs with vocals. It was on their tour for their album The Worry and I had listened to the album so many times – and didn’t even realise that they were playing in Brisbane – so I was both super excited and pleasantly surprised when I found out they were.
“My boyfriend was working for one of the Bigsond venues at the time so he was able to get me a free pass to see them play and I thank my lucky stars. I’d seen Seekae at Oh Hello the year before (also for free lol), which was before they had any vocals in their songs, and that would have been the second best free show I’ve ever been to. Basically, I love Seekae and was so stoked that I got to see them – and it was a lovely extra bonus that it was free. – Monica
WHALEHOUSE – Velociraptor
“It was the night of Riverfire. We had just finish making coffee after coffee for hours. The only thing keeping us going? The thought of hot chips and a free gig with Velociraptor.
“With chips equipped we started our way towards the green pushing though thousands of punters wanting to see the ‘fireworks’. We made it and just in time the band took to the stage and we moved up front for a well deserved dance! What more could you ask for? This was a great gig; a smaller crowd than usual, but still a great atmosphere in the air. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better an angel (Lauren) playing the keytar descended from stage and asked us our names before dancing with us ’til the end of the set.
“Now over a year later we are super stoked to be playing in our own band WHALEHOUSE, seeing people enjoying our shows and sharing stages with other incredible artists and bands!” – Amy-Rose, Sonya, Zoe
