Gemdilem, Ambascamba, Poleski and various Festival Ladies’ acquaintances went to the Purple Sneakers NYE House Party at Manning Bar and had a grate* time! (*trademark pending on awful pun, get your own.)
Gemdilem: I get to Manning Bar in time to see DZ perform to a fairly modest crowd. They let loose with their usual thrashing of the guitar and drums. Having seen them a few other times overall I was some what disappointed with their performance. Usually they leave me hyper and wanting to smash shit up. This time they left me flat and wanting more beer.
Gemdilem: I hang around to see the much hyped Ponytail. Many other curious punters join us at the FBi stage (aka the university cafeteria) to see a performance that can be described as bizarre. The lead singer, Molly Siegel, sang many of the songs with her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Like a car crash I couldn’t stop staring at her and her freaky eyes. Eventually I could take no more and had to leave. The performance – unmemorable. The eyes – unforgettable. I’m still having nightmares about them.
Gemdilem: Beer, beer, beer.
Ambascamba: Grates-related excitement is mounting. Gemdilem and I argue over which members of The Baddies are twins, triplets and/or regular siblings. There is some drunken iPhone googling to settle the argument.
Poleski: The plan for the evening was meant to be take out, couch, bed by midnight. I hate NYE. Next thing I know I am heavily sedated c/o my friend Mr Absolut (he is the only support I have through the ordeal that is your average girl trying to get ready to go out) and my friend Katatonic. We begin yelling threats at individuals who can’t apply bronzer fast enough, realising we have missed half the bands and will be lucky to not miss The Grates. I will kill if I miss The Grates. Did I mention I hate NYE?
Gemdilem: I take up a position close to the front of the Purple Sneakers stage and start to get excited about the prospect of seeing The Grates again. I try to guess what wonderful outfit Patience will be wearing tonight. I patiently wait through the set from The Baddies – pretty boys who can sing and play instruments but are NOT The Grates. Then finally the wait is over.
Gemdilem: The Grates take to the stage and are greeted by an almighty roar from a crowd only too pleased to see them. It had been a while since I had seen The Grates perform, the last time being back in May at Groovin the Moo in Maitland. It had been even longer since I had seen them perform at a gig as opposed to a festival. They sound fabulous, so much better than I remember. Their raw pop-punk songs rips through Manning Bar, infecting everyone as they play song after song.
Ambascamba: Patience and her Gratey cohorts singlehandedly (multihandedly?) make up for the fact that I didn’t make it to Falls this year. There is nowhere I would rather be right now than here, singing, dancing, clapping, jumping and screaming in the new year.
Poleski: I finally arrive to find Manning bar to be a blaze. Nice to know everybody has been having a delightful evening. Patience is electric sporting shiny things. The Grates deliver the perfect mix of new and old songs, sending the crowd into a frenzy. They continue to be one of Australia’s gratest live acts, and it brings a tear to my eye every time I recall seeing them tear up little old spectrum with 15 people in the room. There is a brief break in the music for the countdown and I honestly don’t recall much more.
Gemdilem: As usual Patience does not disappoint – jumping and twirling around the stage in a beautiful sequinned leotard. Interacting with the crowd, she literally had them eating out of her hand, begging for more. The crowd sings along to favourites like “Burn Bridges” and “Trampoline”. Overall The Grates performance was electrifying and awesome. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to bring in 2010.
Ambascamba: Elated and exhausted, we head out to the balcony for some fresh 2010 air, where we find Poleski. She fails to recognise or understand her own native language which I am energetically shouting at her face. This is undoubtedly due to her being drunk rather than any lack of fluency on my part.
Poleski: The Grates rule, sequence hot pants were a grate idea, and I totally had a grate time for the 75 mins I was at Manning. I bump into the other Festival Ladies to have a chat in my mother tongue and then run off to a place that promises candy infused vodka.
Gemdilem: Happy new year!
Poleski: TU JEST PLESN, TU NIE MA PLESNI. Don’t ask.
