The Annandale Hotel is an ideal venue. Not too small, not too big, well ventilated and easily evacuated, This House of Music was a good venue for the album launch of Waikiki. A four-piece rock band that I've seen three times. I'd never seen openers Good Shirts before. And probably never will again.
Indie rock + keyboard just isn't my cup of tea. The Beautiful Girls were much more impressive. It's always good to see an opening act with an ounce of talent. Something that you actually enjoy and consider watching again; even without the current headliners. I think they played for about 45 minutes. Long enough to get a good impression of what they're all about.
But I was there to see Waikiki. They came on stage to the biggest crowd they've played in front of and started rocking us in our boots. I like Waikiki and no amount of freaky/sleazy dancing by some fruitloop in front of me was going to ruin this. He'd slide on up and dance suggestively with any female nearby, only to be rejected and laughed at on a near-to-regular basis. And some other nut kept screaming out "Juanita!" between songs which eventually freaked out the singer enough to razz him about his dangerously dilated pupils and freaky overtones. It was a good set, and pre-encore finish of "Here Comes September" involved Ben Lee. I dislike this man intensely, but luckily he didn't ruin the gig or even the song for me.
The evening came to a close with a cover version of "Gloria" which is a nice enough song and I left with ringing in my ears and warmth in my heart. The only disappointment was knowing that tickets to their shows from now on will never be $12 again.
Reviewed on Monday, 7 October 2002