Bluejuice – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne 01/11/2013

The boys from Bluejuice are well-known for the fun and energy of their gigs, which they prefer to call “parties.” Their amazingly high energy, sold out show at The Corner Hotel in Melbourne on Friday night, organised to launch their new single S.O.S, was no exception.

Melbourne’s Lurch & Chief opened the night, followed by Sydney’s SURES, who played some pretty awesome tunes to warm up the crowd, including a cover of Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. Unfortunately their performance was hindered by some microphone troubles towards the end, but it didn’t stop them from ploughing into their last song, sans second microphone.

Bluejuice walked onto stage to deafening screams, with their faces, arms and bodies plastered in fluorescent stickers and glow sticks jammed down their pants (the latter of which they threw out to the audience later), everyone immediately knew this was going to be one hell of a show. And it wasn’t long until they shed their shirts and jackets, forced to by the steaming room and their relentless activity on the stage.

Perfectly coupled frontmen Jake Stone and Stav Yiannoukas, delivered their renowned non-stop performance, humorous banter and fun on-and-off stage antics. The band’s Facebook fan page describes Jake’s role in the band as “Screaming, backing harmony screams and physical theatre,” this is hilariously spot on. And of course James Hauptmann the “skin basher” and “calming influence” who worked the drums like Animal from The Muppets, and Jamie Cibej on guitar, wearing his trademark sweatband, helped bring the vivacious and animated party together.

The band started the night with a string of back-catalogue hits, including Can’t Keep Up from their 2011 release Company. The crowd went crazy when the boys launched into Vitriol from their 2007 album Problems, the swelling room was jumping up and down during the entire song, the entire gig in fact, singing back to Jake when he reached his microphone out to the crowd. It was at this point in the night that Jake launched into crowd-surfing. The crowd underneath did a stellar job at moving him safely around the room and back to the stage.

Bluejuice finally gave up their latest single, S.O.S, which sounded very popular with the pumping crowd. The fans were then treated to a string of the band’s hits including I Ain’t Tellin The Truth, Shock, Aspen, New York, and Work, a definite crowd favourite, judging by the rowdiness of the screaming and jumping crowd. The boys then played their Like A Version cover of Lana Del Rey’s Video Games, which sounded just amazing. The slow tempo was a much needed break for the crowd to cool down and get their breath back.

Jake and Stav announced a few songs away from the end of the gig that there will be no encore, which was met by an audibly saddened crowd. They explained that they feel the exercise is a little silly considering they are on stage already. They were speaking sense, having played, jumped, sweated and crowd-surfed for a full hour, these poor lads deserved a break until their next gig.

The night ended with a few of their most popular songs, including Act Your Age, and when it seemed all but over, with everyone wondering whether or not they would be playing ‘that song’, the band unleashed Broken Leg. It was a high to end an absolutely pumping Bluejuice party. The boys never disappoint, delivering the most fun and entertaining show possible. One just hasn’t seen a truly insane, fun and interactive live gig until one witnesses Bluejuice in action.

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Gallery: Bluejuice – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne 01/11/2013

Photos by Carbie Warbie