Live Review: Spiderbait, The Gooch Palms

Some bands retain goodwill - even if years between the too many drinks you have when you do intersect.

Spiderbait are in that category, although the determination of a chunk of this audience to revel in memories might have occasionally been a bit forgiving for what they actually got in return.

McQueen didn’t shed his fetching pink Bonds briefs but was well-loose in the Iggy tradition.

Just loving being here – although repeatedly telling us they loved their Newcastle hometown a bit more – The Gooch Palms made rattly ‘punk rock’ racket that drum and guitar duos do. Kat Friend and Leroy McQueen sing/yell songs of cockroaches, the ‘Castle’s Hunter St Mall, and Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It. McQueen didn’t shed his fetching pink Bonds briefs – as he often does – but was well-loose in the Iggy tradition of wide-eyed hyperactivity. 

Some of Spiderbait’s endearing affection could be the familiarity of them. They’re the people you met at a Chippendale sharehouse party in 1995. Whit the quiet guy in the background, until handed a guitar. Janet English, the indie girl not sure she wants to be there. And Kram – here (mostly) behind an old-school double-kick drumkit – the endlessly chatty guy you ended up watching rage with as dawn breaks.  

Even the final rumble of Black Betty drifted off to guitar and drum solos that got a bit self-indulgent.

But doing their first full headline set after a couple of festival spots, things just seemed to meander at times. Their trademark two-minute pop spurts sometimes lost focus as they went – although favourites like Shazam and Buy Me A Pony still got many singing every word. Even the final rumble of Black Betty drifted off to guitar and drum solos that got a bit self-indulgent – even allowing Kram is still a mighty flailing drummer. The faithful necked the last of their tinnies, and went home singing happily, but others of the crowd might consider nostalgia ain’t quite what it used to be.