Gig Review: Strung Out @ Narrabeen RSL 29th June 2018

Strung Out are back on our shores touring all across this great wide land of ours playing show after show night after night. It was only about two years ago I saw them play a venue out in Sydney’s far North West called the Fitz, it was a ripper of a show. This year the band are playing their sophomore album ‘Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues’ which was written over 20 years ago. This album has always been the defining strung-out album, filled with socially aware punk lyrics driven by machine-gun drums, scorching guitars and hard-hitting bass-lines. Tonight’s show at Narrabeen RSL over in Sydney’s Northern Beaches is the eighth straight show on this tour and I am sure it will be mind-blowing.

This venue is packed and it reminds me of going to see punk shows back in the day, a dingy room with huge sound and all of us packed in nice and tight. When Strung Out takes the stage they waste no time tearing things up by opening with the biting Firecracker and from then on in it flows just like the album, but when played live these songs take on a whole new feeling as the crowd’s energy feeds on the music. The big moments came with the big songs Somnombulance, Bring Out Your Dead (which was dedicated to the late Steve Soto, bassist of The Adolescents), Solitaire and album finisher Wrong Side of The Tracks. Each track brings out the crowd’s voices in a veritable shout-along.

With the albums play time only being 32 mins the band wasted no time in blasting us with other Strung Out classics, Calling and the set finisher of Matchbook that inspired more moshpit craziness as each punter who tried to go over the barrier was pushed back into the mosh with only one punter eventually making the stage with an epic crowd dive. The band had delivered some quality tracks tonight and given us a real punk show but the crowd wasn’t done yet they wanted more and we got more. Two ripping tracks to finish things off Mission to Mars and Analogue. At the show’s end, all you could see in the room was sweat-soaked tees and huge smiles with ears ringing. The band themselves said we are the best show of the tour and I can’t help but believe them.

This is how I remember punk shows, fast furious raw packed into a room up close with the band and the music creating energy, A powerhouse set uncompromising and relentless. Strung Out tonight delivered a show that embodies everything I love about punk, jam-packed with attitude, speed, creativity, and energy. It may be cold out but it was red hot inside the Narrabeen RSL, no better way to spend a Friday night.

Review – Chad

Photo Gallery – Christian Ross