Dinosaur JrIt's hard to get excited for a support act when the headliners are seen as minor deities, yet such lowered expectations play right into Brisbane stalwarts Giants Of Science's favour. The quartet doesn't play often, but when they do they bring the fury, with newer tracks like Prognosis Fucked, The Tower Of Toowong and Your Coke May Be Pepsi played at breathtaking speed. It's a great sight to see so many revellers actively engaging with a support band at The Hi-Fi before 9pm – usually they are drowned out by the din of chatter at the bar. And when the final notes of ever-golden Zodak ring out, it's hard not to think, 'Fuck, if I thought THAT was loud…'
There is more than a little anticipation for '80s garage glammers Redd Kross, and the heady and at times bizarre amalgam of music the band delves into excites and reviles in equal measure. There are moments where the band want it known that they are old – one quip stating they hadn't played with Dinosaur Jr since 1993, another that they wrote a song in '86 – while the brash colour clashes, sharkfin-shaped guitars and flailing long hair reeks of a band stuck outside of time. Yet when this is juxtaposed with the brilliance of Annie's Gone and Pretty Please, it's hard not to get swept up in their garish glory.
Such a large cross-section of music fans both old and new swell the ranks until The Hi-Fi is bursting at the seams for the inimitable Dinosaur Jr., and the trio do not disappoint. If you have seen a Dinos set, you know what to expect – J Mascis the irascible sage, an immovable monolith whose outlandish bent notes, gravelly slack vocals and serrated solo whines are the stuff of legend, still drawing acolytes out of the air to this day; Lou Barlow's effervescent flailing over his bass, engrossed in the atmosphere and hypnotised by the music they are creating; and Murph up the back, the metronomic glue that keeps this crazy ship from imploding under its own weight of egotistic brilliance. Everything here tonight – from new tracks like Watch The Corners and Rude (Barlow taking vocal reins here) to stone-cold classics such as Feel The Pain, Start Choppin, The Wagon and Freak Scene – is played with consummate control, without overt flair, because the noise does all the rest. Treated to a special rendition of The Cure's Just Like Heaven, Dinosaur Jr. tick all the boxes and then some. If only all bands could continually knock the ball out of the park like tonight.
