The Whitlams
» Whitlams, The - Quarry Amphitheatre, WA - Sat, January 31
» Colin Hay - venue, Sat, January 17
» The Sons of Stanhope - venue, Fri, January 23
» 'Impending Doom Records' - venue, Sat, January 24
» James Reyne - venue, Sun, January 25
» Frankenbok - venue, Sat, January 31
» Waifs, The - venue, Sat, February 7
» Famous by Association - venue, Sat, February 14
» The Volatiles CD Launch - venue, Fri, February 20
» Kate Miller-Heidke - venue, Sat, February 21
» Whitlams Announce Tour - September 20, 2006
» You Am I - November 4, 2006
» Ben Lee - November 30, 2005
Cup Eve. Halloween. A night to be celebrated for Melburnians. I find myself treking down to my local 'The Peninsula Lounge' for a night of music -headlined by The Whitlams. I consider myself a border fan - I had dabbled in their music from time to time but had never taken full notice of them. This was about to change.
First to take the stage was Jak Housden and band. I later found out that Jak is actually The Whitlams lead guitarist and b/v guy. Multi-talented indeed. This guy has a great stage presence and is a gun on the electric. Standout tracks for me were 'Mad about Disco' and 'Love Illusion'. He can really sing too.
Next up was Bertie Blackman and band. I had heard her track 'Kill me' on the radio and loved it - hearing it live didnt really do it justice. I was expecting great things from this girl, and unfortunately for me she didnt quite deliver. There were a few good tracks, and she does have a good voice - I'll give her that, but I was disappointed overall. The crowd seemed to like her though.
After much suspense The Whitlams entered and opened with 'No aphrodesiac' to rapturous applause. Tim had a huge bottle of wine beside him - so after many refils during the night, he was in high spirits. He commented that "there arent many places we can say we havent been to, so thanks for coming down to our debut at The Peninsula Lounge". Jak relished his role up front and produced many a rocking solo -with delight. As expected -the crowd absolutely loved the track 'Melbourne' - how could we not - it would be unpatriotic. It was good to see many ages in the crowd - fathers and sons and the like - such is the pull of The Whitlams music.
As expected 'Blow up the pokies' has everyone singing and dancing along. It really is an important song. Peppering the set with new songs, 'White Horses' was a taste of things to come - and impressed many.
Closing with 'that gough whitlam song' - The Whitlams were sent off with a wave of applause. "Does it always go off like this on a Monday?" Tim commented. Maybe not.....unless bands like this played every Monday.
