Live Review: Regurgitator, Senyawa, Hedgehog

It's hard to believe that it was over 15 years ago that Regurgitator released their groundbreaking debut album Tu-Plang and their multi-platinum follow-up Unit. Both albums could easily have come out in the last couple of years and still been just as thrilling and visceral. And for a band that is so comfortable playing around with genre, their supports for the first of their two Sydney gigs were the Chinese dreamy, fuzzy guitar pop band Hedgehog and Indonesian duo Senyawa.

Trio Hedgehog were driven from the back by some great drumming from dynamo Atom. Around her work, guitarist Zo and bassist Fun interspersed their droney pop with built up squalls of sound with Zo and Atom's vocals mixed low.

Senyawa combined the unusual extended vocal techniques of Rully Shabara with the homemade bamboo string instrument played by Wukir Suryadi. The sounds Suryadi was able to draw out of the stringed tube of bamboo were mesmerising, at times playing it like a cello, at others delicately finger picking it or summoning these epic almost modern metal sounds from it. In contrast, Shabara seemed more of a distraction than anything.

With footage of John Travolta getting hot and sweaty in aerobics class welcoming Regurgitator onto the stage in their '80s tribute double denim outfits, the four-piece blasted through their first two albums with boundless reserves of humour and energy. Though Tu-Plang had its share of crowd favourites – Kong Foo Sing and Couldn't Do It getting things joyously underway – it was definitely the show's second half focus on Unit, when the band returned in their silver lycra body suits, that the crowd really let loose. There was barely a moment's respite as the band tore through hits I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff, Everyday Formula, Black Bugs and Polyester Girl. With Seja Vogel taking care of all the synth and keyboards, Quan Yeomans was able to occasionally forgo the guitar and stalk around the stage like a rapper while Ben Ely bounced up and down like a kid on a pogo stick. Even though some of these songs barely ever get a run live, the band were locked in and super tight. These albums may have come out 15 years ago, but their legacy was certainly felt at this gig.