Perth Music

Sunday 23rd November 2008
Oak Lawn, UWA
VROOM Festival

A wild and windy day at UWA did not keep too many people away from the VROOM 2008 music festival which was host to a variety of great Australian musical acts to celebrate the end of year for students and just to have a chance to party. It was a weird setup in the Oak Lawn at UWA but there were an equal amount of people in the fenced off 18+ area as well as the all ages area. A bunch of great local bands were on early followed but some hot aussie bands afterwards.

Red Jezebel have been a staple band in Perth for many years now and they always have a lot of fans at all of their gigs. VROOM was no exception with a bunch of kids jumping around close to stage. After a strong start, the heavens opened up and rain poured down forcing most of the crowd under trees or cover. The band continued to play and as the rain slowed the fans got closer. It was a good effort by the boys and lucky for people in Perth, there will always be another Red Jezebel gig just around the corner.

Another local band was on next in The Panda Band and there were just as many fans up close and personal cheering them on. There were a few moments where fans shouted out and the band shouted back in a bit of an angry way but the music did speak for itself. The Pandas have played enough gigs to strengthen their live sound to almost a point of perfection but the talkback from the band did distract many.

Bluejuice were on a mission to impress and impress they did. Getting straight into the thick of things, Bluejuice were a force to be reckoned with and were almost rocking out to a point of craziness. Vocalist Jake Stone danced his way around the entire stage as well as on top of a large speaker and at one point ripped his shirt off and molested drummer, Ned Molesworth. When Vitriol started there were shouts and dancing all over the Oak Lawn as well as smiles everywhere. If the party had not started earlier, it definitely started with Bluejuice.

In a bit of a change of pace, Dukes Of Windsor were up next and were more of a dance infused band than any of the previous bands. It’s A War was an early hit with the crowd who loved the bands tight sound and great vocals. The Others was also a highlight of the day even though the hit single is over 2 years old now. The weather continued to threaten the evening with continual sprinkles of rain but luckily it stayed as only a threat.

British India were headlining the day and definitely deserved the honour. Rocking out the grounds straight away and getting everybody present jumping around, British India proved they were one of the best live bands in Australia. Playing a bunch of songs from their debut album Guillotine as well as their new album Thieves, the band were fantastic and only went from strength to strength. Highlights were Run The Red Light, Tie Up My Hands, I Said I’m Sorry and the ending to end all endings. During the last song a fan ran around security and on stage, he then took a run up and jump head first into the mosh pit. As security dragged him off in anger the whole crowd were invited on stage to rock out as the band finished the song. It was definitely a sight to be seen and a great way to end the evening.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 5:16 pm and is filed under Gig Reviews, Local Bands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.