A bunch of friends and I hit The Corner around 7:30 and waited around drinking and eating chips until 9, not very excited about the thought of seeing three supports before the band came on at 11:30.
Music vs. Physics were a passible DJ/MC/drummer act, playing Portisheadish tracks with some Aussie rapping thrown in. They seemed to be at their best when the female singer actually sang (as opposed to rapping) and the drummers was given the freedom to go nuts. I spent the majority of the time watching the crazyhaired drummer who looked like an amazing cross between Trey Parker and Matt Stone and was a brilliant drummers to boot.
King Kapisi, and MC with a DJ, followed and I was far more impressed than I expected. An excellent rapper and wordsmith I've never seen a happier, more honest and occationally amusing rapper in my short time enjoying the genre. He definitely got the crowed excited and varied his songs to match the mood. Even his extreaming irritating "Screems From Da Old Plantation" got me going.
Following this was DJ Eye, from the Bordems and I must say, never have I seen a more amusing DJ act. DJ Eye spent the majority of the time just puting on vinyl of one note and varing the speed to change the note being played, followed by random noises and screaming. Most interesting were his two drummers who played pretty much constantly for the half hour set. Crazy stuff.
Regurgitator came on to a flood of screams and they looked pretty darn happy. Immediately obvious was Quan's "keytar", a guitar/minikeyboard. This along with a PC playing samples was their Shane replacement.
They opened the night with new song, played mostly via the PC with the drummer throwing in his extra beat colour. Never have I seen an opening/unknown track received so well. The crowd went absolutely spastic and I loved it. The show only got better from then on.
They essentially played a "best of" gig with about 8 new songs. Everything punk or rap you could think of from Gurge and it was played. I Will Lick Your Arsehole, Track 1, an awesomely reworked Social Disaster, Pop Porn, Happiness, Kong Foo Sing, I Wanna Be a Nudist, Blubber Boy, Repetative Music, I Sucked a Lot Of Cock, Song Formally Known As, Modern Life.
Black Bugs saw Quan playing the solo (as opposed to Shanes usual way-to-loud keyboard solo) and it was awesome. Fat Cop saw the roady handing out donuts and fredos and as expected this track was much better live, but was nothing to most of the new tracks heard on the night.
During the second new track "the guy from the Zoo Bombs" came out to sing to the mass joy of myself and the crowd. Two words into the song and his nose started pissing blood and by the end of it he had splashes all over his face, much to the amusment of Quan and Ben.
The only other track I've heard from the new album was annouced as "a tribute to boy bands, your N-Syncs etc.", during which Quan and Ben did b-boy dances while singing.
The "encore" saw a very funky drum+bass instrumental and another new Ben sung track which included a cute little mouth keyboard solo throughout.
They were selling signed cardboard fatcop posters on the way out for $20. A rip off really but I grabbed one anyway. A bunch of green staypuff marshmellow cops on a pile of donuts is hard to go by, especially scribled on by Quam and Ben (and the drummer guy, bah).
The majority of the new tracks were rap, and a couple sounded very similar. A couple of tracks were pure punk/rock (think Living End but don't). I'm definitely going to love this album. My only fear is that the production/instrumentation not come across as good as the live show but I can only wait and see.