Ah, the good old Corner Hotel, Richmond; where the beer is cold, the air con is icy and the carpet is sticky (ew). The first thing I noticed about this evening was the definite shift in demographics from other gigs I have attended in recent times. As I anticipated, there was certainly l’élément bogan in evidence (not yer feral types, more your cashed up surfer-tradie breed) and a definite over-representation of those well into middle age and beyond. Some, it seemed, had also come along with their adult kids – jeez people, let yer olds have a good night out on their own!

Melbourne locals, Massive hit the stage running, jumping, rocking and pretty much impressing me from the start. The venue was only about half full at this point, but these guys played like they were entertaining a packed house that were there just for them. Massive are a blues-based, heavy rock outfit, and they have that ingrained Aussie pub band sound and enthusiasm that will take them a long way. There is a hint of old school AC/DC there, but also a whole lot more – I think guitarist, Brendan Forward may be a bit of a Slash fan, and he smashed out some cracking solos.

These guys work well together on stage and look like they are having a fantastic time of it. All of their playing sounds really tight and Brad Marr’s voice is really impressive – he sure can belt out some awesome screams! This tour is their opportunity to promote their second album Destination Somewhere. I’ve been able to have a listen to said album and it’s pretty damn good – they have been compared to the likes of AC/DC, Gunners, Airborne, etc. They played my fave track Sinking Ship on the night, and after 45 minutes, their set was done – but I didn’t want it to be over! Massive were….well…..MASSIVE! Check ‘em out, they will rock your socks off!

Screaming Jets came on to a (by then) packed house of very excited punters. The Jets are promoting their first studio album in seven years, Chrome. The first track they played sounded pretty damn good and a little heavier than I remember them being. They played a few tracks off the newie, but the crowd were very happy to hear the old favourites, and they didn’t disappoint. Dave Gleeson may throw himself around the stage like a demented gurner (he pulls some crazy faces at times), but he can certainly still sing like a champion. These guys have been around for over 25 years, so they know what they are doing and can deliver the songs with ease and plenty of oomph. They sounded great and I could see the crowd were singing along and loving every minute. The crowd certainly went off when they played songs like Sad Song, F.R.C. (Fat Rich Cunt), and Better. I think we could possibly do without Dave’s little f-bomb laden rants – he comes across as a bit of a fucken bogan nutter (see what I did there?). After such a rant about the US President, we were treated to a pretty cool cover of P. F. Sloan’s Eve of Destruction. Dave did probably break the ‘use of f-bombs in once sentence’ record though…

After close to an hour and a half, the Jets came back for a three song encore, which included my favourite, Shivers (bless you Rowland S. Howard). I do tip my hat to a band that can do such great justice to a Boys Next Door song. The evening came to a close a bit after midnight, with all the happy punters drifting off into the night, having had a great night out at the Corner.