Frenzal frenzy as Rhomb bomb drops
BY 10PM The Plantation Hotel's band room was sweaty, crowded and the air crackled with mosh-ready chanting.
And then Frenzal Rhomb appeared, and it was on for young and old.
Infamous, sarcastic, cheerful and just a little bit stoked, punk legends Frenzal Rhomb showed the Planto's backroom a good time on the weekend.
The band's last gig before this one was the Big Day Out.
"That was just practice - this is the real gig," guitarist Lindsay McDougall told the crowd.
And they could have been telling the truth.
They didn't sound like a band who haven't been gigging much - they sounded like they'd never stopped.
The energy was unmistakable, with Lindsay, singer Jason Whalley, drummer Gordy Forman and bassist Tom Crease totally comfortable with each other onstage, picking up each other's cues, the rhythm section smashing out riffs with precision, and some seriously short, sharp and seamless guitar solos.
Jason's hair made more of an appearance than he did, with whirls of dreadlocks all you could frequently see from up the back.
But you could definitely hear him - his voice has hardly changed, except to take on a harder edge in some of the really heavy sections.
Fans grabbed them, crowd surfers crowded them, and feedback distracted them - but Frenzal Rhomb never once dropped the ball.
A fan dropped his pants, but that's another story.
