8pm – warehouse, coromandel place, city, adelaide – with paddington bear affair + more

we got everything packed up and crammed into the taxi for the qirport – it was a beautiful day in melbourne again and i wish we could have stayed longer. the management team came back to sydney and limited express (has gone?) took off on their lonesome but to be met and looked after by zac – so over to him for the adelaide details.

we showed up at the warehouse at about 7:45 only to find that the resident hippies had changed the locks on mossy and the bands. in anticipation of limited express (has gone?) and a good night out, quite a few people had come to the venue early – a pleasant change from the usual adelaidian attitude of being ‘fashionably late’ to the point of missing support acts. after a couple of very ugly and scary fists fights out the front, we decided that it would be better to hold the show elsewhere.

after briefly toying with the idea of a carpark show, we eventually piled into our cars and drove to hindley street and brett & co’s small apartment. the lounge room was cleared of furniture and miscellaneous debris and everybody pitched in to set up amps and drums against 3 sides of the cramped room. with much help from the housemates, we managed to collect about $50 worth of donations before the bands had even started. the bands kept their sets short so that it could all be over before midnight and the neighbours could get some sleep.

the paddington bear affair kicked off proceedings with a short, noisy, and pretty messy set that got the crowd into a party mood. next up was apes of god, which was supposed to be a solo project. a laptop provided pre-programmed music (dance-y 80s new-wave stuff), with emmett singing over the top. others joined in the fun, playing instruments (not plugged in) and dressed in bank robber attire (with stockings and orange bags over their faces).

next up was my sister the cop – fun, tight and rocky as always, despite the unusual conditions. the final of the support bands was i’m gonna fucking kill you who had been practicing in the lounge room prior to our arrival. they played some sort of rocky hardcore and i was very impressed with this being only their second or third show. they made sure everyone in the room got a free, individually titled demo cd-r.

finally, it was time for limited express (has gone?) to take the stage. the trio had been watching the supports quietly from down the hall but burst into life in front of the crowd. due to a lack of microphone stands (the previous band having to duct tape a microphone to a door frame) lehg chose to play a bass-less set but they still sounded amazing.

while the support bands seemed unable to get a nice clear mix after hurriedly getting themselves and their instruments organised, the simplicity allowed by a guitar/vocals/drums combo meant that limited express (has gone?) were definitely the best sounding band on the night. the room full of onlookers were extremely appreciative between songs and looked to be enjoying themselves immensely during limited express’ short set, which consisted of tiger rock, mophin’ fellet and a cover (though I couldn’t pick it). lehg also looked to be having a lot of fun, with yukari singing amidst the crowd and jj surfing on top of the kick drum.

the shortness of the set left the crowd wanting more and they were promised that much more music and fun would be had at the grace emily. perhaps only 30 or 40 people came (more would have arrived had they known about the change of address) but everybody in attendance had a great time.

after the show, lots of people thanked the band, many perused the small merch desk, and others just buzzed with amazement and excitement after what they had just witnessed. it was a good taste of adelaide punk rock and definitely an interesting first night for limited express (has gone?).