Kisschasy

Can you believe that the line to get in to the show was stretching down the alley beside The Metro and winding its way back up to Bourke St? I couldn’t either. But that tells you just how far Kisschasy have come.

I first saw Kisschasy about five or six years ago, in a small bar in Brisbane, and in the seven (or so) times I’ve seen them since then the crowds have gotten bigger, the singing along has gotten louder, and they’ve received a lot more air time. The reason I was here tonight wasn’t Kisschasy though. For me, tonight was about The Donnas, kick-arse chick rock!

The night started with local lads The Getaway Plan, they’re usually quite good, but I think the size of The Palace engulfed the vocals. Having said that, they played all the hits that are getting played on Channel V and kept the crowd entertained, the highlights of the set were definitely Streetlight and Where the City Meets the Sea.

After a fair bit of waiting, while manoeuvring myself into a front of stage position, The Donnas came out to rock it. The rumour going round was that on the previous shows on the tour, the crowd hadn’t really gone off for the girls. Thankfully, Melbourne’s notoriously quiet crowds got rowdy! There was lots of crowd participation, singing along, and movement – it wasn’t a packed pit, but they got a good reception. Oh and they played some great tracks too, Take It Off, Who Invited You, and Better Off Dancing. I really wanted to hear Dancing With Myself, but I’m not that disappointed that I didn’t. It was a 45 minute set of pure (chick)cock-rock, which is decent for a support slot, but I just wanted about 15 minutes more!

It was time for the men of the hour, Kisschasy. Melbourne is their hometown, so it was always going to be a big show for the guys, and while it wasn’t quite a sell-out. There were heaps of people there, people that I hadn’t ever seen at gigs before, and there was lots of dancing.

The set consisted of songs from all of Kisschasy’s albums and EPs, all the way back to Darkside/Stay Awake and Cara Sposa – yep, you read it right, they played Reminder! The highlights for me were Do-do’s & Whoa-oh’s,Stay Awake, Ugly Birds In A Beautiful Cage, and the new single, Strings and Drums. The crowd went nuts for Spray On Pants and Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm At Night.

Perhaps what was most impressive was that Kisschasy were playing on a massive stage, but filled it, Darren’s vocals were strong, the guitars were loud, and the drummer was excellent. Rock and roll!

Finally, I would just like to extend a big thanks to Kisschasy for bringing out The Donnas – it had been way too long!

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