Gig Review: Frenzal Rhomb + The Meanies + Tantichrist at Manning Bar Sydney

Live review – Frenzal Rhomb, The Meanies and Tantichrist, Manning Bar Sydney. June 22, 2023

By BRIAN GIFFIN

PUNK institution Frenzal Rhomb are on tour in support of their 10th album right now and tonight they returned to their birthplace to launch it in front of a packed crowd at the Manning Bar.

Unlike the last time I was here, the doors opened a full hour early, giving the fans plenty of time to assemble ahead of the opening act. Tantichrist stormed the stage and once the guitar mix had sorted itself out, ripped through a set of explosive and tough punk rock. Just over a year ago I saw this band’s first show, when singer Nicky threw so much beer around as he went berserk in the front room at the Duke he caused the foldback to catch fire. Tonight he applied only a little more restraint, becoming more and more unhinged as he careered around stage while the band tore into vicious social satire like “Thoughts and Prayers” and the incel-bashing “Sad Boys”, their mix of wild abandon and raucous energy going down a treat with the early punters. Drummer Yoshi Hausler kept everything on track even when it looked like Tantichrist was about to collapse into complete chaos and their off-tap version of “Ghost Riders in the Sky” absolutely needs to be recorded for posterity at some point.

By contrast, The Meanies seemed a little flat. Whether it was the foldback gremlins Link seemed to be battling at the start of the set or some other form of malaise that occasionally haunts endlessly-touring bands, but they just didn’t really have the energy and vibrancy they usually show. Wally mainly kept to just shouting titles between songs and Link didn’t seem to be having the best night vocally. The hits came thick and fast and “Round in Circles” almost got some real movement happening at the front but their set was a bit lacking in the fun element The Meanies usually bring to the table.

Frenzal Rhomb were deficient in none of their trademark exuberance as they burst onto the Manning stage. No one – certainly not Jay Whalley – could have predicted that a band formed to troll a uni band comp in 1992 would not just be still going, but filling rooms 31 years later. Yet here they are, sailor suit clad Lindsay McDougall and recent recruit Michael Dallinger kicking and leaping about while they light up the room with blitzing larrikin punk anthems. From the moment Jay opened with a droll, “Let’s go to the place where drug dealers take their kids”, Frenzal just kept on delivering the goods. There was the easy-going back-and-forth smartarsery and jokes between the guitarist and singer, a casual observation that Russell Crowe’s band is, indeed, touring again (cue laughter), a dedication to original guitarist Ben Costello before tearing into “Genius”, Gordy Forman’s duckass tight drumming, breakneck riffs and dumb shout-it-out choruses like “Bird Attack”. The pit seethed, there was even a stage diver, and Frenzal Rhomb handed it down with the energy, dynamics and sense of self-deprecating fun that has kept them such a popular draw for so long.