After an outstanding show the week before seeing James Morrison at the Enmore Theatre, the excitement has remained high with the live music thats still to come! The next gig in line was seeing Sunshine Coast band The Chats at the Factory Theatre last Friday night & it definitely was a gig I was looking forward to.
We started the night with a quick beer & a chance to watch the first half of the South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Canberra Raiders game who were both fighting for a chance to play in the NRL Grand Final. As it wouldn't have been a fitting night to see The Chats if we didn't stop by a good old mates pub & settled in with the footy & a big bowl of hot chips with aioli sauce.
By the time it was almost half time, that was our cue to head down to the Factory Theatre & get ready for the show to start.
As soon as we walked into the Factory Theatre we were greeted with an abundance of fairy lights, a food truck & even a pop up Grifter brewery! I've been to the Factory Theatre a number of times for Comedy shows over the years but this was actually the first time that I've been here for a gig. Before we headed upstairs, the temptation as an Inner Westie we couldn't resist a treat so we sat & had one of Grifters famous "Serpents Kiss" Watermelon Pilsners. Being based in the Inner West we're definitely spoilt for choice when it comes to breweries in the area with quite a few such as; Grifter, Batch, Sauce Brewing, Wayward & Young Henrys.
As we sat & watched the all ages crowd work their way in & up the stairs we knew we were set up for a good night. Between the odd teenage grommit, there was actually a good few old mates as well as young kids. It's great to see such a variety of fans.
Once we were in, we followed the curtain wall up to the Merch stand & the venue once you went through really opened up. It was small, but not too small, intimate but lots of space & wherever you stood you could see the stage. There were beer barrels dotted across the room & somehow my mate Shez & I were able to score a beer barrel close to the front fence of the over 18s section. Being an all ages gig, they had a whole area reserved at the back for the over 18s with a bar in the same vicinity & quite a reasonably fast moving drinks queue.
Looking across the crowds I could see a lot of mullets, speed dealers, thongs, bucket hats, lots of VB memorabilia & I even saw a guy rocking his hi-vis! Then finally after much teasing/sound checking The Chats came blaring onto the stage with a couple of stubbies each of VB close by. What was so good about the gig, was majority of their songs each are under 3 minutes so literally from the start of the gig to the end they didn't lose anyones attention & had us all in the palm of their hands.
Some Photos courtesy of SASIS PHOTOGRAPHY
It was absolutely delightful having a variety of different ages all moshing together. There was crowd surfing & lots of jumping around, The Chats also have quite an impressive discography as they played songs that were made as far back as high school days. My all time favourite song Bus Money was played reasonably early into the gig but it didn't stop me from jumping around as hard as I could, one of the highlights was everyone shouting my favourite line "All I need is a buck or two, all I need is a buck or two" at the top of their lungs.
The Chats really know how to draw your attention in with quite dull topics but make the songs so much more exciting. Some of their songs were just typical bloke stuff such as "How Many Do you Do?", "Do What I Want", "Mum Stole my Darts", "VB Anthem", "Nambored" & "I Feel Good" etc. I think hands down though the craziest song of the night had the lyrics "I'm the Best Person in the world, I'm the Best Person in the world, everyone else looks like a pedo".
But I think the crowd definitely went more crazy when Smoko came on & they saved Pub Feed till last, I'll admit by the amount of VBs drunk between songs I was quite happy/impressed how much they still kept their sound strong. As I remember many years ago seeing the Dune Rats at the Metro Theatre as a support act to Best Coast & they were so high/drunk they couldn't even properly play which was a shame as they butchered a few of their good songs. The Chats were strong from start to finish & it showed as everyone when the lights went on left sweaty. I'd also probably say the highlight of the show was near the end of the gig, when an old mate next to me kept shouting "How bloody good is this?!" & we jammed together for the last song, lots of stomping, lots of head banging & jumping around. The best thing about Punk is it never ages, as any band that sings/plays Punk usually has a strong message that they want to fight for. It's a language that speaks to a lot of ages as we all have our opinions & most want to fight for their rights. In this venue alone there was lots of high energy circulating & after old mate & I jammed we ended with a hi-five when the lights came on to signify the end of the night. It was great that two people of two different generations could rock out & laugh at the same humour in the songs, & share how fun the band are & this gig was definitely truly a fun one! Not bad for a $30 ticket either!
This weekend I'm off to Wollongong for Yours & Owls Festival, I'm super excited as its been a while since I've been to an all day festival. Got my festival gear all sorted, were going to catch the train down early & make a good day of it. Which now leads us into this weeks song!
Hot off the press! Rushing Back is Flume's latest single which literally dropped 5 days ago!
Flume is a Sydney-born, LA-based producer who has actually had a few songs feature on Play It Forward >>, before this single dropped the latest stuff from Flume had been earlier in the year around July where he released an EP featuring a few of his friends ie. London Grammar. Then even earlier this year in March he released a mixtape called "Hi This Is Flume" with further remixes.
Rushing Back had been teased last month when Vera Blue joined Flume on stage at Lollapalooza, both artists have worked together in the past but this is the first single they have produced together. I can see why Flume couldn't resist collaborating with Vera Blue as her vocals are just out of this world! Flume has a really good way of dipping between futuristic sounds & the haunting vocals of Vera Blue floating around between it is just amazing! Now this weekend I'll be seeing Vera Blue at Yours & Owls Festival, Flume will be here in Australia for Listen Out Festival thats touring near the same dates, it would be totally amazing if Flume joined her on stage! But I get it could be a long shot.
I always let the days slip away, I should have been making up my mind I never opened up, took it all in and now I’m running out of time Sometimes I dream about going back, keeping all the things I left behind But now I know you can’t change the past, way too young to know the reason why
Absolutely dreamy! & a song I'll be playing on repeat for a long time.
Hope you all have a wonderful week! & I'll have a great review from Yours & Owls Festival next week!
Cheers
Amy
All up its a two day festival with camping but most if not all the artists on the Saturday Lineup were who I want to see, It was decided to only go f