Come Thursday I was frothing to go to this gig. I hadn’t seen Lunatics On Pogosticks for the best part of 2 years (2 years too long for our second date methinks), a time during which they released a bunch of singles and an EP called Sleeping Till The Weekend. However, although this band’s been together, or at least getting played regularly on heaps of radio stations around Australia for those two years, they had never released an album. That is, until a few months ago. The album was gritty, lo-fi and pop punky; the kind of album you’d expect to be released by people who don’t shower very often and eat a lot of fried chicken because they're poor, but they also have standards. This fried chicken thing isn’t just a joke, they have a song called Cheeky Nando’s and it’s as sick as someone might get after having a cheeky Nando’s. Apart from Lunatics, Pro Vita were playing (which sounds like something you’d buy from a health store after you got sick from that cheeky meal), and being a listener of the frontman’s other project, Bugs, I was keen to check them out.

First up were lunatics, and they entered the stage to an almost empty room (I think a bunch of people may have been partying in the back room), and a stage dimly lit by fairy lights that twist and bind onto the floor and microphone stands. But the room filled up quite rapidly once they opened up with Drug Deals and people either realised they had started playing, or just heard a random good band and walked over to check them out. Lunatics were really good, not only did they play through their new album with songs like Dart Lord and Cheeky Nando’s, but they also played through some great classics, such as Picasso and Less Then Sober. Throughout their set there was a “gentle mosh” and by that I mean the punters resembled punks on valium, but by the time they closed up with MDMAtes a fair few people were jumping around and having a blast.

Second up were the headliners; Pro Vita. Now I didn’t know these guys before they played that night but I am pretty fond of Bugs, so when I was told that the lead singer was from Bugs I got way more to excited to check them out. All in all they were pretty good, playing melodic, story-telling punk that was nicely reminiscent to The Smith Street Band, whilst the crowd was energetic and buzzing with excitement throughout the set. What I really liked about this gig were the little inconsistencies, like stepping on a tuner and the sound cutting out for a moment. Some people may think that that’s a shitty moment, but being that close to quite a popular band and seeing moments like that makes it authentic, and you can totally imagine him singing folk-punkily about how his guitar cut out mid set. Throughout the set the crowd got more and more energetic (maybe drunk; por que no los dos?) and they finished up with a solid crowd up the front who seemed to be having an absolute blast. All in all it was a great gig. I got to meet up with a band I've liked for years and discover a new band that were pretty damn swell. 

- Kacper Majchrowski