Live Review: Spiderbait, The Love Junkies, The Tommyhawks

If you were a fan of indie rock in the 1990s, there are a couple of albums everyone owned and Ivy And The Big Apples is probably one of them. With double platinum sales coupled with Spiderbait's 1997 ARIA Award for Best Alternative Release this album was everywhere, and for good reason. It seems fitting, then, that 20 years after Ivy And The Big Apples' release Spiderbait would take it on the road to play in its entirety for fans both young and old.

Early punters were treated to four-piece act The Tommyhawks and these women definitely have a sound of their own. Harmonising tenor sax with a buzzing distorted guitar, some interesting and original hooks were created. Outside a jazz or ska band, it is rare to see saxophone as a lead instrument but The Tommyhawks make it work and the crowd seemed to enjoy the show.

Up next were raucous quartet The Love Junkies. These guys are a bit of a mixed bag; when they're good, they are very good, however, their sound gets a little absurd when they push the heavy to 11. Their set was full of energy, aggression and catchy riffs. 

After what seemed like a comically long sound check for a three-piece rock band, Spiderbait finally took to the stage. A few quick hellos and then the band dove straight into a rocking set featuring a lot of moshing from the audience and banter from the stage. As always, Kram was the larger-than-life frontman, while Janet English and Damian Whitty showed off their outstanding musicianship.

Highlights from the set included huge singalongs to fan favourites Buy Me A Pony, Calypso and Goin' Off. Another memorable moment came when Kram destroyed the drum kit while singing (somehow not out of breath). His drumming was actually most impressive during the instrumental cuts from the album. After When Fusion Ruled The Earth and Driving Up The Ceiling, Kram nearly fell off his stool from out behind the kit, looking spent, before taking a quick walk around the stage to catch his breath when we noticed he was wearing flip flops!

With the album finished, the band popped off stage for a quick breather before returning for an encore of some other classic hits including Old Man Sam, Fucken Awesome (which seemed to describe the band tonight) and a HUGELY extended version of Black Betty that seemed to go on forever. Kram claimed he wanted to move to Perth, maybe this never-ending song was how he planned to stick around?