Bundaberg natives Good Boy are a delightfully curious prospect, insofar as their versatility and genre-defiant abnormalities means they fare far better than your average guitar-twanging slackers. They may tack on knowingly dumb song titles like ‘Ya Mum’s Ya Dad’ or ‘Braap’, but contained within are sharply written and versatile exercises in power-trio prosperity. Augmented, jazzy chord shapes spread out over picked out basslines on ‘Millie’, while the energy hits new levels on the intense, ricocheting ‘Poverty Line’ – also known as the best song Eddy Current Suppression Ring never wrote. Ever on the up-and-up, Good Boy are a must-see before their inevitable explosion.
Hockey Dad arrived on the scene some four years and change ago, fresh out of high school. To see them confidently take on a stage as grand as the Enmore’s, then, is quite something. The rag-tag energy that made them a draw to begin with is still a large factor in their live performance – Billy Fleming walloping away on his drums, Zach Stephenson chopping away at his brightly-toned guitar. At the same time, they’ve made a clear progression as both songwriters and musicians – to which a handful of new songs from their forthcoming second album happily attest.
Watching Jamieson in the flesh is witnessing someone with a new lease on life, tearing into the band’s beloved debut LP … like a man possessed.
Anyone who happens to follow Grinspoon‘s Phil Jamieson on Instagram is probably across the fact he was blessed before this tour began with just about the best gift you can give a singer: bronchitis. A lesser vocalist would have either postponed or called things off entirely. Not our Jamo, though – not ever. Truthfully, if one didn’t have this context you may have honestly had no idea – watching Jamieson in the flesh is witnessing someone with a new lease on life, tearing into the band’s beloved debut LP, Guide to Better Living, like a man possessed.
His companions – bassist Joe Hansen, guitarist Pat Davern and drummer Kristian Hopes – all promptly sink their teeth into each track, from the carefree kickflips of ‘Just Ace’ to the belligerent snarl of ‘Sickfest’. The crowd heaves, surfs and loudly sings along, just like old times, while making new memories along the way.
A bonus-round encore sees New Detention get some love (itself celebrating a 15-year anniversary), as well as ‘Ready 1’ and perennial angst-anthem ‘More Than You Are’ to wrap up. We’re showered in red confetti, and it truly feels like we’ve never lived better than in this very moment.
Grinspoon were reviewed at Enmore Theatre on Thursday July 6.
This review originally appeared on The Brag. You can view the original review here.
