When it comes to cover bands, Me First and The Gimmes Gimmes are not a cover band…they are THE cover band. The punk-rock super group has been putting their own style on classic songs since 1995. With a revolving touring line-up, it’s always exciting to see which notable members will be playing live.
Tonight the band are in Wollongong kicking off their Australian tour. The packed crowd cheers as the band walk out onto stage all dressed wearing tight white jeans and Hawaiian shirts. With tonight’s line-up consisting of Spike Slawson (Swingin Utters) on vocals, Joey Cape (Lagwagon) on guitar, John Reis (Rocket from the Crypt) on lead guitar, CJ Ramone (The Ramones) on bass and Pinch (The Damned) on the drums.
The band got the party started with ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’ by Steely Dan which Spike brought out his ukulele skills for. Then pausing before the next song for Spike to dedicate the song to a great man and great pilot, playing ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ by John Denver.
Early in the set, the band explained since it was Friday they were going to play a four for Friday. We were then treated to four knee-slapping country tunes. Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’, Willie Nelson’s ‘On The Road Again’, Stan Jones’s ‘(Ghost) Riders In The Sky’ and John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’.
The band really hit their stride for ‘I Will Survive’ giving the audience a chance to let their inner diva out. Which was followed by a version of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ that I’m sure Judy Garland would have been proud of. During the night the crowd was in full voice singalong along to every song but ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond was certainly a favourite.
During the show, Spike was wearing a pair of Sir Elton John’s glittering sunglasses that he must of left behind from his recent Australian farewell tour. These glasses came in handy helping their cover of ‘Rocketman’ reach new heights. The Gimmes then paid homage to the legendary Australian rock band The Angels by playing ‘Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?’. Shocked by the audiences’ disrespect yelling “no way, get fucked, fuck off” during the song, the band then stopped the song and (jokingly) left the stage. Luckily they were contractually obliged to finish the song and returned to the spotlight.
The final songs of the night were ‘All My Loving’ and appropriately finishing with ‘End Of The Road’. The bands musicianship throughout the twenty-one song setlist was both impressive and full of energy. Spike’s charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent shined and as he would introduce every song with “this one’s a cover” it became funnier every time. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are going to be down under for the next two weeks, so if you are fiending for a good time, then they’ve got you covered!
(Photos by Christian Ross)
