The Panics

Ok, when starting this review I promised myself I would stay away from the sporting clichés. You may ask why would the reviewer would bring up sporting clichés in a review about one of Australians best loved Indie bands ‘The Panics' playing at one of Melbourne’s premier live venues. Well, for starters the biggest sporting rivalry in AFL history was happening the day after the gig (for those who aren’t from Victoria, it is this game we like to play that is kind of like Aerial Ping Pong) . The gig did resemble an AFL Match at the highest level. The teams come out to a sell-out crowd, there is a strong energy in the stands, and an event that lets say is a curtain raiser before the main event, for this review let’s say Splendour in the Grass or the AFL Grand Final. But the biggest cliché that comes out of this is that it was a game of two halves. “Defence is the best offensive” and “we were flat in the first half but showed our full potential in the last half” are the best clichés to explain what I saw on a Friday night in Melbourne.

Now, with a set starting off with all the new material from the new album, it can be hard for a crowd to get into. If you don’t pull it off well, the crowd will be against you. Pull it off and the gig will be amazing. In the beginning when the Panics stepped on stage, the older crowd were up and ready for a good Friday night, but once the first strum of guitar was played, the crowd were doing their own thing, standing there not enthralled by what was on stage. The Panics, who are don’t get me wrong are amazing musicians, tonight had a bad night; had a bad game. The crowd were hoping for something, a massive spark. Was it the crowd? Maybe, it was an older crowd. Or maybe it was just a band having a night off. I’m guessing it was the later.

Songs off their new album didn’t role together well in the set. Whilst they were being played amazingly, there just wasn’t any spark to get the crowd too excited. Even the new single that is getting J Played a lot ‘Majesty’ (a grand scale song if there ever was one with big bass lines and massive drum lines), again the spark just wasn’t there. But with the clichés “defensive is the best offensive” I kept muttering to myself.

Half way thru the set lead singer Jae Laffer sung a solo, which could be said like the rest of “Sleep is like a Curse”, this gig was getting that way; people were looking at their watches. But all hope wasn’t lost. The band went away like at 3 quarter time to have a team talk to rev them up and once they graced the stage again, it was like a different band had entered the Corner and begun The Panics in a mode that the crowd loved.

Kicking off with the massive song “Don’t Fight It” and the crowd favourite “Sleeps like a Curse”, the band and crowd had a different energy, a surge to be enjoyed. It was finally as if both parties were happy to be in each other’s company.

Once the final song was strum and the band walked off stage, clichés did start to roll out. It is a game of 2 halves and there is always next week. And even though it was a lack lustre gig, I can happily say I will be up front to see the Panics at Splendour because this is a band that won’t have two bad gigs in a row. The ending energy will be carried over because the finals are so close and to finish off with the best cliché of all, ‘the fat lady hasn’t sung yet’ and the Panics still have there best to show.

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