Five Australian bands came together (25 January) for a benefit show at The Zoo in Brisbane, raising funds for the aid and recovery from the devastating bush fires, with all proceeds donated to non profit wildlife organisations for First Nations people affected by the fires.
While Regurgitator headlined the show with their usual stellar performance, every support act brought their-all for this night, with politically-charged sentiment channelled through Aussie music and humour.Brisbane’s smutty songbirds, The Gutter Birds opened with their parody swing trio-esque songs and a fair forewarning: “Thanks for coming, it’s for a good cause, now we’re going to offend you.” They took a familiar crowd through ditties like ‘Thank F... You Dumped Me’, ‘Naked Men’, a cover of Frangipani’s ‘My Period Is Late’, and ‘Bag Of Dicks’ which was dedicated to ScoMo.
Being Jane Lane brought the energy up further with the band getting just as active and sweaty as those on the floor. The all-girl, punk-rock band had great interaction with the crowd sharing banter between songs and 'dueting' the chorus with shoulder propped audience members at times.
Swamp-rock band SixFtHick kept the momentum as the audience kept up with the renowned onstage antics of Ben Corbett. They continued to plug the raffle tickets between tracks, often calling out: “Why are you listening to this sh.t? You should be up there buying raffle tickets.”
As their set came to an end the heat in the venue, especially the dance floor, was that severe that half the patrons cleared out for ten minutes of fresh air. The Zoo was well prepared for the heat, though, handing out free Zooper Doopers and sending staff around with jugs of cold water to fill cups.
Dicklord entered the stage with front woman Jade sporting 'F... ScoMo' on the back of her shirt and applauding the audience just for being there. Early in their set they called The Gutter Birds back on stage to join in a track dedicated to ScoMo, launching into 'CU Next Tuesday'.
The highlight of their set though was when Jade, in true Aussie punk style, crawled up into the exposed rafters of The Zoo while still singing. She was eventually called down by the staff, which turned into a comedic one-sided dialogue as she kept speaking into the mic. “Oh I’m sorry; yep. . . oh no, can I do an outfit change?”
There was hardly a lull in the performance as she ripped her formerly white shirt off and did the rest of the set covered in dirt, dust, sweat, tattered shirt and everything that goes with punk. Even her band mates continued to laugh at her shabby appearance.
With all the performances the other four bands put on, it didn’t seem Regurgitator could raise the bar any higher, but anyone who has seen these guys live would know they bring it every, single time.
After announcing the raffle, they launched into ‘Sucker Like You’ that had everyone in the sold-out venue on their feet dancing, flowing on with ‘Black Bugs’ and dedicating ‘Kong Foo Sing’ to The Zoo for hosting the fundraising event.
Keeping things lightly political, they dedicated ‘I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am’ to ScoMo, with most of the audience enthusiastically singing every lyric back to the band.
The enthusiasm had peaked for at least one audience member who climbed on stage and stripped naked, though the trio proved to be old hands laughing the encounter off as security escorted the voyeuristic lad away.
'The Song Formerly Known As' brought the night to a crescendo as literally everyone in the venue was jumping up and down to the '90s alternative pop-rock hit.
The entire line-up for the night put on their best possible performance, all to raise money for a great cause.
