The First Show

It might have been the band’s first show but they certainly made it count. Even though they seemed a little bit nervous through the first third of their set, the boys got pretty comfortable, pretty quick. The crowd may have consisted of some family, a lot of friends (including myself) and the odd random (eventually totaling to 120+ people), you couldn’t help but feel like everyone was actually having a good time and not just there for the sake of supporting the band.

Take me for example: I watch local acts every now and then, friends or not, and usually I find myself saying, “I could probably be up there playing a show too.” Not to say that the particular band is bad, it’s just that I feel somewhat underwhelmed. This was not the case on Saturday at Clyde’s. As musicians, the Koalas were so technically solid that I could never see myself being on that stage with them as an equal. They had a very natural stage presence and look very professional while having a pretty damn good time rocking out together.

The highlight of the night for me (well actually two of them) was when the band preformed "Senseless Infinity". I know it’s one of their “slower” numbers but it’s a much layered song. Coming into the show, I was worried that the venue wasn’t going to allow that song to really take off. To my delight, it sounded fantastic live and I still can’t help but be impressed by Daniels guitar work, it makes me want to put down my own guitar for good (alright maybe that’s a bit too drastic).

As for Ben, he was just absolutely ridiculous playing the role as the front man. You can tell that he was just having way too much fun up there, singing and wailing his sweaty heart out. And oh lord, was he sweaty. As for my second highlight of the night (and probably the highlight for everyone else at the show), it would most certainly be the interactive cover of "Fuck You" by Cee-Lo Green. Now, I’m not taking away from the band’s original content, which was fantastic and only got better as the set went on, but that cover was just all kinds of fun.

All in all, the Koalas’ coming out party on Saturday was a success, and then some.

- Stevie