Live Review: Bluejuice, Thelma Plum, Jody

Ahead of their farewell tour, Bluejuice announced that punters would have to show up early to find out who their special guests were, or risk missing out. It worked a treat, as Jody take the stage to a relatively packed room.

Unfortunately, despite frontman Dom O’Connor’s enthusiasm, their brand of “Inner West Mope Rock” (so described on the band’s Unearthed page) is mostly received with a golf clap.

Brisbane singer-songwriter Thelma Plum receives a much warmer reception. Her beauty earns wolf whistles from some well-lubricated audience members, who are instantly silenced and awe-struck when she opens her mouth to sing.

Her band of extremely talented musicians build an atmospheric soundscape with simplistic rhythms as Plum delivers her stunning (Florence Welch meets Lily Allen) vocals.

After a lengthy break, which we can only attribute to warming up a ridiculously strong black light (and possibly some backstage bevs), Bluejuice finally take the stage wrapped in copious amounts of fluorescent tape. It’s clear that those in attendance are the most hardcore of Bluejuice fans. The energy in the room is insane the moment the boys break into The Recession, and it only increases from there.

A crowd-surfing fan gets a little too rowdy during Work and co-frontman Jake Stone stops threatens to “face fuck” the “dickheads” if they don’t calm down. In an act of hypocrisy only Bluejuice could get away with, Stone then proceeds to spend the remainder of the evening stage-diving, walking on audience members’ shoulders and inciting chaos. Meanwhile, his partner-in-crime Stav Yiannoukas seems intent on soaking us with every drop of water at his disposal. We’d be concerned for his hydration levels were it not for the bottle of scotch being passed around the stage.

We meet newer tracks I’ll Go Crazy, George Costanza and SOS with enthusiasm, but these pale in comparison to older favourites. Head Of The Hawk is accompanied by a frenzied scream-along, while (Ain’t) Telling The Truth gives us a chance to bounce and sway along. The set closes with the epic Vitriol as the boys kick the energy up another notch, which we happily match. The band return from a short break, hurling hundreds of glowsticks at us and transforming the pit into a rave during an encore featuring Medication. As Bluejuice break into their hit single Broken Leg, we know that this is our last chance to party with them and the final beat is met with deafening cheering and applause. There is a look of both pride and sadness as the Bluejuice crew take their final bow.

RIP Bluejuice: 2001 –2014.