Gyroscope

It was to South Australia’s favourite HQ complex that I skipped on Sunday 7th September, on the way to see the dual excitement generators of Shihad and Gyroscope. What were a band of Shihad’s fame supporting Gyroscope you may well ask? I have no idea! But it was still sure to rock the cazbah!

Once in, I headed straight to the merchandise section to peruse the large, large selection of t-shirts available from the 3 bands. It took me a while to realise that each shirt was actually displayed front and back, so there were half as many shirts as there appeared on first inspection. Fail! Oh well. Listening to the odd reggae background music while watching the mosh pit form prior to the first act, I felt my cares fade away and my expectations build. HQ, with its great lighting and acoustics, always promises a good show from any band. Bands of the two headliners’ energy promised good things.

The first band up, Perth 4-piece Sugar Army, kicked off the night. They played a mix of innovative light rock tracks and offbeat tunes which were as interesting simply to listen to as they were to dance along with – several extended rock parts even turned eyes from the bar! The bassist, in a complete defiance of the norm, bounced all over the set, doing his best to get the crowd clapping along, with pretty good results.

The next band up was the dynamic Shihad, supporting their latest album Beautiful Machine. As the band walked out on stage, a random spotlight opened up, shining into the crowd. It was playing on the Shihad singer/guitarist Jon Toogood, who was standing in a podium in the middle of the crowd. How he got there, let alone with guitar and microphone stand, without anybody noticing, I will never know. However, the expression of thunderstruck amazement on the face of the fan directly behind him, who clearly had no idea who was in front of him until the spotlight turned on, was absolutely classic. Either way, the band played a brilliant show, with Jon oozing charisma and having no trouble dominating the crowd. He kept up the antics throughout the whole set, even climbing into the rafters at one point, playing guitar and screaming from the top of his lungs while walking along a narrow catwalk. I almost felt sorry for the semi-forgotten rest of the band. The one let-down was that the volume Shihad played at was almost enough to shatter my eardrums. Epic work anyway.

Finally main act Gyroscope themselves hit the stage. Singer Daniel was not to be outdone by Shihad’s charismatic front-man, and waded straight into the mosh pit with his guitar on opening song, All In One. The crowd loved it, putting him up into the air as he played. They played a nice mix of quiet melodic songs, such as Australia and rocking party anthems, setting the mood as they chose. I was pleased to note that perhaps the biggest response was to my personal favourite, Kill For You. However, the biggest win that Gyroscope achieved was playing cover songs. I, along with several dozen others, went mental when the band performed a blistering rendition of Nirvana’s Territorial Pissings, and the whole floor exploded into dance when the band brilliantly wove several famous songs, such as Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning, into their encore song, Fast Girl. The last song for the night was Snakeskin, closing the night with a Breed Obsession favourite. A show well worth attending.

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