Regurgitator - Prince Bandroom, Melbourne, Australia - April 17, 2021
First show in 16 months (for these guys) and ever (for me), and it wasn't disappointing at all. The venue was pretty nice and a reasonably easy trip to get to (even if I got on the wrong tram at first).
Had to wait around for a while, seemingly too long, before we got the opening act -
Mindy Meng Wang, ambient musician using a traditional Chinese instrument called a
guzheng to play two ten-minute pieces. They were cool, very atmospheric, and I definitely want to hear more.
Another too-long wait before the band came on, with Quan's mother Lein on stage so we could sing 'happy birthday' to her (80!). They kicked into the first number, 'Blood and Spunk' (one I don't really know), and it took a while to get their instruments into gear, but once it worked they rocked out for the next hour.
The setlist was pretty heavy on their two oldest albums,
Tu-Plang and
Unit, with a few fan favourites - 'Black Bugs' (which included a sick guitar solo with a synth effect!), 'I Will Lick Your Arsehole' (
audience singalong), 'Everyday Formula' (though Quan forgot the lyrics at the start a couple times) - and ended with a great version of '! (The Song Formerly Known As)'. Sadly too short of a show (fourteen songs in about fifty minutes), but they were having a lot of fun on stage and it was an awesome first experience for me.
(Didn't grab the paper setlist, despite wanting to - the person who did was nice enough to let me get a photo.)