Gig Review: OFF! + Party Dozen + Mitch, Please at Princess Theatre, Brisbane

Live review: Off!, Party Dozen and Mitch, Please at Princess Theatre, Brisbane, Saturday, January 20 2024

By DAN SOUTHALL

SATURDAY night in Brisbane can be a bit hit and miss for our loveable live music scene – compounded by the fact there is suddenly so many shows upcoming for fans of all kinds of live music. When the doors open things don’t look as good as one might expect for this evening’s festivities, even considering the headliners are built in part by punk rock royalty.

Openers, Brisbane’s own Mitch, Please, don’t seem to care that there aren’t many people in the room when they take the stage. They have come to kick our eardrums in and take names but forgot their pens. Despite some early technical issues with one of the guitarists, the band ploughs through, obviously having a great time and the vocalist has the floor in the palm of her hand, jumping into the pit and whipping it into a circle pit as she runs possessed through it. One of the more interactive opening bands, if you see them coming through town I recommend catching them.

Next up were Party Dozen – an interesting band, to say the least. A saxophonist and a drummer playing with samples to boot, creating something you are unlikely to really hear unless you seek it out. ‘Different’ possibly best sums up what goes on for the next 35 minutes, as the band rumbles and rolls through all spheres of musical connection. Despite this feeling out of place musically at a punk gig, what is more punk rock than questioning the system, no matter what it is?

Off! waste little time between the previous set and their own, setting up their equipment and sound-checking themselves in preparation for their show. The set starts of with a burst of short, sharp noise rock complete with blasting trumpet like the intermission tracks on their newest release, Free LSD, before kicking into gear proper with blast after blast of classic hardcore in a vein that can only be done by originators like Dimitri Coats and Keith Morris. The set is broken up a few more times by the noise interludes and the odd small bite of world-weary knowledge courtesy of Morris, still rallying against everything that doesn’t make sense in the world, such as war and a lack of love for fellow man. Overall Off! lets the chaos in their music do the talking, blasting through nearly every track from the new album interspersed by some obvious band favourites, and having a great time while doing it.

Image: Charlyn Cameron