Tonight is a night for punk rockers to unite !! as for a killer double bill of MILLENCOLIN and GOLDFINGER are playing at Roundhouse in Sydney. MILLENCOLIN having recently released their latest album SOS the band are keen to show their fan down under this next chapter in their long history and GOLDFINGER haven’t graced our shores in over 7 years so i expect tonights show to be one of the most kick ass punk rock shows of 2019.
Now i have set my expectations so high it’s time for GOLDFINGER to take to the stage and not let me down. Which i am pleased to say they did not, starting with the old school Spokesman followed by the even older school Counting The Days the crowd forming a mosh and crowd surfing straight away. One of the first things i noticed as soon as GOLDFINGER hit the stage was the line up on bass guitar you had Mike Herrera from MXPX and joining the band was Chris Cheney from The Living End and if that wasn’t mind blowing enough on the Ska jam Tijuana Sunrise you had guest vocalist Bert McCracken from The Used and on the punked up Open Your Eyes Brett from Dune Rats played guitar.
Having all these punk icons show up and play with Goldfinger just goes to show how important front man John Fieldman is to punk rock. Held high on the shoulders of the crowd this hero of genre finished off this killer set with Superman the 99 Red Balloons. Goldfinger didn’t just live up to my expectations they blow them out of the water and left us all wanting more.
Alright fuck yea that was a blast and i’m all warmed up time now for MILLENCOLIN to live up to my expectations and follow up from the fun and chaos of a GOLDFINGER set. They hit us up with something new the title track from their latest album SOS and then its straight into familiar ground with Penguins and Polar Bears the crowd really responding this absolute classic. MILLENCOLIN just tear thru the set list only slowing down for part when frontman Nikola Sarcevic grabs the acoustic and we all sing The Ballad. The crowd led chorus easily drowning out the singer himself (much to the genuine delight on his face) but slow isn’t MILLENCOLIN style and by the third verse the band jam back in now with added member Mike Herrera. MILLENCOLIN really did play for us an arsenal of hits from across their massive catalogue the Swedish punks finished the main set with Mr Clean and coming out for a six song encore that ended with No Cigar the whole time all you would see is twisted flesh, flailing limbs coming over the barrier, what a show.
GOLDFINGER and MILLENCOLIN had to be one of the most exciting, energetic live punk rock shows i have been to in long time, basically the way i grew up listening to punk, short, fast and loud.
Review – Chad
Photos – Christian Ross
