“When the night starts off like this you know it’s going to get rough”, one of the bouncers next to me muttered after removing a bunch of underage kids from the line outside the Assembly. PH Fat were launching their (free to download) EP by playing with Christian Tiger School, Beach Party and The Bone Collectors, and the bouncer was right – it did get rough.
The line-up seemed pretty bizarre to me – I like all the acts but would never have thought of putting them all together. First band up, The Bone Collectors, seem to me pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum to PH Fat but nevertheless it had been a while and I was glad to see them again.
Their set was quite different to what I’d heard in the past – their tall cabinet banger guy was missing, they had a new drummer (Captain Stu‘s Ryk Otto) and seemed to be moving away from their old bluesy sound. I really loved their opening track which was fittingly apocalyptic (given the night’s theme and giant sign on the stage, ‘you are going to die’) and enjoyed their set, though I have to say I missed the bluesiness a bit.
Up next were the flamboyantly nutty Beach Party. I’d seen them just once before and had thought they were pretty cool and lots of fun. I confess I wasn’t feeling them that much this time round though their lack of their keyboardist may have contributed to that. The black bag of rose petals they emptied onto the crowd was a nice touch though.
I hadn’t seen Christian Tiger School before but had heard good things about them. Once they started though they felt a bit like a musical interlude. I dunno, the gaps between their sound and Beach Party’s was just a bit much. I liked their music but it started off really chilled and kinda RnBsy which felt a bit weird in the context of the night (It then picked up and got kinda frantic towards the end).
I feel like I’d’ve enjoyed them in any other context, they just felt a bit wrong and a lot less ‘live’ than the other acts.
As it neared time for the headliners, I noticed that The Assembly seemed suddenly packed to bursting and verging on claustrophobic….and I started feeling like my presence had brought the average age up to about 18 – clearly PH Fat attract a young crowd.
I’m not a huge fan of their music but they put on a good live show, getting a few guests (rapper Fuzzy Slipperz and Beach Party’s drummer, whom they refered to as ‘God Speed Thunder Cat’…or something) on stage every now an then also helped keep things interesting.
Given the amount they were jumping around, I’m amazed the crowd still had the energy for the DJs up afterwards; I didn’t stick around for too much of Hyphen’s set, the night had been fun but left me pretty exhausted, plus I was feeling kinda old…
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Download PH Fat’s EP on their site – for free, for R10 or for as much as you’d like
Christian Tiger School | Beach Party | The Bone Collectors | Hyphen
