Review: Grinspoon @ AEC Theatre 01/11/25
Celebrating 30 years together, Grinspoon took fans down memory lane with an energetic, hit-filled set that had the AEC Theatre rocking.
Words Belinda Quick // Images Samuel Phillips
Grinspoon w/Regurgitator & Molly Rocket @ Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre 01/11/25
“The years teach much, which the days never knew” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Gosh, when thinking back 30 years, I wonder how any of us are still here. We were the young and the reckless generation, kept within our bounds by the skin of our teeth. Certainly not by strict parental guidance or a sense of tradition, we were born not only to push boundaries but redraw them completely.
New South Wales’ most brazen boys, Grinspoon, lived by these rules, loose as they were, and - more than once - tested their limits. Infamously covering INXS’ iconic ‘Don’t Change’, the ‘Grinners command as legendary status as Michael Hutchence and co, while frontman Phil Jameson holds a cult-like status similar to Jimmy Barnes. As far as Australian rock, there is arguably no band more renowned. Hand in hand with infamy came the highs and lows, yet improbably, they, as well as we all, have made it to our collective 30th Birthday Bonanza.
A moment of exhaling distortion before ‘Breathing Lead’, Adelaide's own Molly Rocket is “angst-driven” in igniting the 1990s spirit which birthed tonight's headliner. Georgie Evans jokes, “This is our first show!” ‘She's Cruel’ to be kind, but ‘God Damn’; an outfit relatively young, encapsulating with such efficacy a sound so innately nostalgic is a sight to behold. ‘Kiss You Dead’ and hitting the ‘Asphalt’, the mysterious Clover is well-wished in addition to Grinspoon, before the local act ‘Dive’ like ‘Animals’ in for their final songs.
As analogous with the era as Grinspoon themselves, Regurgitator asks “are you ready?!” bursting into ‘Track 1’. “Fuck, I love this town,” Ben Ely attests before dedicating (with an IYKYK air) ‘Bongzilla’ to Adelaide, the southern capital known worldwide in the ‘90s for its penchant for “horticulture”. Quan Yeomans delivers the sequentially crass-titled ‘Asshole’ and ‘Cock’, both of which hit hard. ‘Black Bugs’, still in immaculate condition, follows, while ‘Fat Cop’ is screamed by the crowd of fun-loving criminals.
The trio-turned-four-piece, courtesy of touring member Sarah Lim, is a ‘Cocaine Runaway’, as effervescent as ever. Announcing their own “30-something” anniversary and monster 2026 tour, the ‘Gurg avoid ‘Distractions,’ continuing in their ‘Kong Foo Sing’ performance. Ebbing sonically back to the 1980s, a ‘Tsunami’ of hits assaults Adelaide patrons of the Entertainment Centre; Grinspoon's longtime friends and partners in teenage crime, place an ‘! (The Song Formerly Known As)’, appropriately ending their set.
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‘California Love’ devolves into a Western sunset showdown as the infamous ‘Unknown Pretenders’ take the stage. “Adelaide, are you fucking ready?” Jameson shouts, careening from side to side of the stage to acknowledge the crowd. With as much prowess flipping from 2024’s whatever, whatever to the back catalogue, the latest to ‘DCX3’, ‘Black Friday’ is coming a day late but never a dollar short. “Sweet child, you're such a princess now.” This is ‘Just Ace’, dancing amongst my peers, three decades later, we still show up for a ‘Rock Show’.
Already ‘Lost Control’, Jameson struts then leaps from the stage. Floodlights cascade into blue hues. Grinspoon are as ‘Nasty’ as ever, the stage is green with envy. The band are a ‘Hard Act To Follow’, which is why no one does. “This one's for them,” quips Jamieson as Grinspoon honour Regurgitator, for ‘No Reason’ other than to appreciate a comrade who faced and survived the same battles during the same time. Never ‘Better Off Alone’, once upon a time we might have thought so, but now, clear as day, there's no ‘Secrets’ to it.
We lived, yesterday and today, for each other and ‘Ready 1’ to face whatever comes for us; we ‘Run 1000 Miles’ with broken bodies but never dampened spirits. ‘Minute by Minute’, days and years slipping, “Don't Change for you, don't change a thing for me,” because we were always perfect. Never ‘Pedestrian’, music TV moments from Recovery and Channel (V) flash. Our community, collectively beating with the most powerfully charged ‘Chemical Heart’ —that of a ‘Champion’ racehorse — we (and they) “go, go, go!”
The night raging until its very conclusion, the stage is lit up like a birthday cake decorated with Roman candles. As time goes on, we grow older and hopefully wiser, and moments like these remind us that no single day’s measure defines ‘More Than You Are’. It's within the reflection on the grand sum of our years that life's greatest lesson becomes clear. We're all still here, and that's a phenomenal achievement.
Check out the full gallery of images here.
