Butterfingers

It hardly came as a surprise that this gig was a sell-out. Butterfingers have crept up on Australian music while its back has been turned. Their combination of hip hop, punk and pop is a Triple J staple and is now finding its way onto other commercial stations. With a seemingly constant flow of EPs and singles from Butterfingers, they have been able to stay at the forefront of Australian pop.

The eager crowd were treated to a fine set from Unleash the Nugget and a rather monotonous blast of Director’s Cut before they were greeted by Butterfingers.

Given this was a week night (and by the looks of the crowd, a school night for many of them) the fact that Butterfingers did not start until midnight sapped some of the energy from the room. However, when they finally did make it onto stage and ripped into ‘Snatch and Grab’ and ‘Yo Mama’ the crowd found their second wind and crammed toward the stage.

Other crowd favourites from the Breakfast at Fatboy’s album, ‘Hook Up’, ‘Mandarines’, ‘Girl from Gore’ and ‘Smell You on Me’ followed. But the biggest response was saved for the more well known songs like ‘Everytime’, ‘Yo Mama’ and ‘I Love Work’. ‘I Love Work’ was dedicated to all those that had to front their employers in the morning, which drew a number of groans from the people around me that had just realised it was 12:45am!

Before Butterfingers wrapped the set up, they launched into some new material. While most of it was up to their usual standard, one track in particular, ‘No Better Time’, was so obviously a ‘Jungle Boogie’ rip off it was embarrassing. Good luck to the boys (and their lawyers) if they try and pass that off as their own.
With the obligatory finale of ‘FIG JAM’ out of the way, the band left the stage and the crowd caught its collective breath. While some were eager to see an encore, the vibe was one of contentment and relief. The only people who weren’t coping were the crew. The band’s roadie scruffed a fan by the shirt for trying to souvenir a copy of the set list from the side of the stage and looked like he was desperately hanging out for some rest. It is fair to say that everyone was glad they went, but equally glad that they could go home and get some sleep.

Share this review on Facebook