Live Review: Jello Biafra And The Guantanamo School Of Medicine, The Hard-Ons, Zeahorse

Kicking off the evening to a still arriving crowd of mohawks and leather were Sydneysiders Zeahorse. The band played a particularly vocal-driven show, by their standards, which suited the evening more than their traditionally instrumentally-focused work. Despite being one of Sydney's better young groups, the four-piece were clearly more at home jamming their pedal-effected rock without vocals than they were belting out punker tunes.

Saying The Hard-Ons put on a great show is no surprise to anyone even vaguely interested in the Sydney punk and hard rock communities, but damned if the three-piece don't always give it their all. With a set that hopped and moved across the majority of the band's 30-year career, very much catering to a fast, angry and metal-loving punk audience, the band proved why they're as loved as they are. It's especially great seeing vocalist and guitarist Peter (Blackie) Black back in punk rock action mode after his unfortunate hospitalisation last year.

Jello Biafra is most certainly punk royalty, so it's suitable how palpable the air of excitement was before he swaggered on stage in bloody doctor's garb. Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine is the man's first full-time band since the demise of the legendary Dead Kennedys, and the comfort this implies is felt from the get go. The band knows their flow, they're tight, punchy, aggressive and a perfect backing to Biafra's seemingly immortal voice and mocking stage antics. With a set mainly comprised of Guantanamo School tracks, such as highlights Brown Lipstick Parade and John Dillinger, old-school Kennedys tunes were few and far between, but predictably well received - Nazi Punks Fuck Off still packs a mean as nails punch. It speaks to the strengths of his new songs that Jello's classic Dead Kennedys songs fit seamlessly in the set. The relative lack of said tunes may have been frustrating to the crowd, especially considering it's been some 30 years since he's played here, but that actually speaks to Biafra's strengths as a musician. He isn't content to belt out the hits - he has relevant, angry things to say about today - damned are the crowd if they're not down with hearing them.