The Gold Coast leg of Me First And The Gimme Gimmes 'Blow It... At Madison's Quinceañera! tour found the band performing at Miami Marketta.
They were joined by Brisbane band The Cutaways and US punk band Dwarves (1 November 2024).Last year, The Gimmes asked 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Again?' as they toured the country with a rendition of The Angels' classic in their set list. The Aussie crowd filled in the missing lyrics and despite the somewhat confusing message from down under, they have returned.
I'm a huge fan of cover versions. Pennywise celebrated a visit to our shores with their spin on Men At Work's classic 'Down Under’. I photographed Halestorm at The Tivoli (in Brisbane) with my awareness of the band growing from a random cover they did of Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face'. I even contemplated attending a country music festival just to see Finnish band Steve 'n' Seagulls play their bluegrass version of AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck'.
It's a no-brainer when the self-proclaimed 'world's greatest cover band' comes to town; I'll be there to enjoy their punk-rock spin on the classics. The Gimmes have done numerous covers of Aussie songs over the years, with the five of these featuring on their 2011 EP 'Go Down Under'. Would we see some love for Australian classics tonight?
The Cutaways - image © Radical Imaging
The Cutaways had the challenge of warming up the crowd. After belting out their first song and some encouragement from the drummer, the crowd moved forward and got into the groove. We got a taste of their various releases. The standout for me was 'In The Street' from their 2019 'Wax Woman' album.
The charismatic vocals from Emmy are complemented by guitars and drums as their unique sound ignites the crowd. They describe themselves as 'more rock than punk', but 'more punk than rock’ and I definitely get that vibe as they blend elements of punk, grunge and indie rock for an awesome set.
Dwarves are an America punk band with a reputation for having an unapologetic middle-finger attitude and an emphasis on intentionally shocking lyrics. A banner with their logo adorns the stage and sets the tone for the upcoming set. Their version of a skull and crossbones has a phallic twist to it. The matching shirt with the words 'Teach Children to Worship Satan' was available at the merch desk!
Blag Dahlia is on the mike, and I am a few metres away with camera in hand. The band did squeeze twenty-three songs into their set so they smash through the first three pretty quickly. I'm grabbing some shots with the fish-eye lens and feel the glasses being removed from my face. Blag transforms himself into a bespectacled nerd for a song as I pray to the gods of autofocus!
Dwarves - image © Radical Imaging
We get a mix of their various releases with 'Salt Lake City' getting the crowd singing, along with the crowd favourite 'Everbody's Girl' and 'Voodoo' from their 2023 release 'Concept Album'; plus a hell of a lot of song titles that will muck up my browser's search history or need to be censored in this review!
Dwarves live up to their reputation of being hardcore and 'scum punk', but we also get a feel for the manic pop-punk influence that has the crowd wanting more.
As we wait for the Gimmes, the stage is given a makeover. The dark backdrops are replaced with pinks, purples and vibrant artwork to give us a Latin American quinceañera feel and ready us for a celebration of music throughout the decades.
To match the colourful backdrops, each member of the band are fitted out in bright-coloured shirts and shorts. A purple sash adds to the look, while frontman Spike Slawson is sporting some fancy bedazzled shoes to complete his look.
The touring line-up of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes gives the crowd a mix of original members and 'on-tour' members. The Gold Coast line-up was: Spike Slawson (lead vocals and occasionally rocking a ukulele; Christopher Ward aka CJ Ramone from The Ramones (bass guitar); Jonny '2 Bags' Wickersham of California punk-rock band Social Distortion (guitar); David Hidalgo Jr. also from Social Distortion and Suicidal Tendencies before that (drums); Andrew McKeag from The Presidents of the United States of America (guitar).
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - image © Radical Imaging
Spike grabs his ukulele to start the set. There is a very familiar theme at Gimme gigs. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed it, but they love 1970s songs with longer song titles.
We kick off with a cover of Aussie classic 'Most People I Know Think That I'm Crazy' by Billy Thorpe. We would be also treated with other '70s wordy titles such as 'Love Will Keep Us Together' (Captain & Tennille, 1975), 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' (originally recorded by Julie Covington in 1976), Paul Simon's 'Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard'; and did we know the original title to Elton John's 1972 hit song was 'Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long, Long Time)', coming in at 12 words long.
"This next one's a cover," has the crowd laughing as they launched into another classic from a variety of decades.
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - image © Radical Imaging
The touring version of the band is made up of absolute legends and their musical prowess shines through as they add that unique Gimmes' punk-rock flavour with an explosion of guitars and drums.
From the '80s they gave us 'Straight Up' by Paula Abdul and 'Karma Chameleon' from Culture Club. Being amongst the crowd was awesome, as they danced along, singing out the classic that had been given the Gimmes' special punk-rock touch. The security guards kept an eye on the crowd as bodies were lifted above the gyrating mob. The song ends and Spike proclaims: "This must be the first time that anyone has crowd surfed to Barry Manilow."
The 23-song set list is extensive and we get some '60s with The Beach Boys and The Beatles, 'Over The Rainbow' from the 1930s and a rare inclusion of a 2020s song with the awesome cover of 'Good 4 U' from Olivia Rodrigo.
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - image © Radical Imaging
It was another awesome night at Miami Marketta and we couldn't ask for much more. (Except of course for 'Never Tear Us Apart' to be an inclusion in the set.)
The show is wrapped up with some tragic '90s R&B, which is thankfully given the Gimmes touch. For tonight, it was 'End Of The Road' as the Boyz II Men song has us saying goodbye to the world's greatest cover band. We hope they get to work practising that INXS cover and return soon.
More photos from the concert.
