Pix by Sarah Gilpin
Words by Kris Peters
The Sandstone Point Hotel near Bribie Island is perhaps one of the best and most picturesque live music venues in Queensland – if not Australia. Which made it the perfect location for Lookout Festival 2025 and the first show of the spaced out run of shows featuring Jet, Grinspoon, Spiderbait, The Veronicas, Jebediah and Magic Dirt.
Unfortunately, due to a combination of an ageing concert beaten body and not being able to stay upright on my motorcycle, these days I find it hard to last through a whole one-day festival, so I reluctantly set my sights on a mid-afternoon arrival which meant I missed Magic Dirt and Jebediah completely and came in three parts way through The Veronicas set.
Luckily, HEAVY photographer Sarah Gilpin is tougher than me and made it there in time to report back that both acts smashed it out of the park – as if there was any doubt…
I have to admit here that I have never given The Veronicas more than a passing listen, so it was with surprise and respect that they were doing an awesome cover of Tracy Bonham‘s Mother Mother as I made my way down the hill and into the Party Pit, ready for action. Not that I am a massive fan of bands doing covers – especially when they have a shorter festival set anyway – but at least one song down, and I already knew more of The Veronicas than I thought I did.
To my surprise, I actually knew – or had heard the final two songs of the set – not that I can name both of them. I do know the last song was Untouched and that the crowd went batshit crazy the whole time before the girls bade their farewells, leaving their only actual musician and guitarist on stage to solo until his fingers gave out and that was it.
After a brief changeover, Spiderbait hit the stage running, with drummer Kram dictating proceedings, getting the crowd clapping and singing in unison before unleashing with Straight Through The Sun followed by Outta My Head.
Spiderbait are the consummate professionals when it comes to crowd participation and therefore interest, with Kram regularly barking friendly orders or telling stories that not once encroached upon the actual music. He swigged from his beer, cheersed the crowd and even almost took a backwards stumble from his kit at one stage, but not once did he miss a beat, monstering his kit with the loving disdain normally reserved for foe rather than friend.
Bass player/vocalist Janet English had the appearance of a PTA spokeswoman, looking dignified and petite, but once that bass was slung menacingly over her shoulder and the microphone within reach she morphed into her true self – one of the true icons of the Australian music scene. She smiled and eased her way through the set, regularly making eye contact with her fans and peppering her bass strings with a subtle precision that is and always has been the cornerstone of Spiderbait‘s sound.
As the trio began Shazam! the crowd erupted as one, singing the words back to the band before they had time to engage in what was an emotional and fitting indictment of music and how it can be a sonic force of belonging. But it was Fucken Awesome that sent the crowd into a frenzy, Kram‘s gentle teasing between song’s in the lead up questioning our acceptance of the word “fuck” only adding to the energetic good time song which I am pretty sure was written for me…
As the sun began setting behind the stage, Spiderbait blasted into their final song Black Betty, generating every last possible ounce of energy from the appreciative crowd before returning from whence they came and setting the stage for the mighty Grinspoon.
Taking the stage for their first show of 2025 amid a haze of red smoke, Grinspoon wasted little time with pleasantries, ripping into new track Unknown Pretenders before taking us back to the other end of the musical spectrum with DCx3. I’m not sure if it was done deliberately to highlight the sonic differences between Grinspoon circa 1997 and their sound in 2025, but it had the desired effect on me, basically proving that these motherfuckers rock just as much now as what they did before the turn of the century.
Just Ace and Hard Act To Follow kept the pace lively before the mid set double of Secrets and Chemical Heart allowed those with pacemakers to recombobulate before Grinspoon amped things up again with More Than You Are. Next track Better Off Alone – which would generally be relegated to the softer section of the evening – must have had a bit of a live shake up because it was definitely punchier and more engaging than I remember, which is always a good thing.
Frontman Phil Jamieson danced and gyrated his way across the stage, sometimes sitting down to engage the crowd and others leaping off the drum riser with the reckless abandon of a man 20 years younger, but it was the shit eating grin that was permanently etched across his face that told the true story. Grinspoon still genuinely love what they do and won’t be phoning anything in any time soon.
Powering to the finish line with 1000 Miles ahead of their cover of INXS‘ Don’t Change, Grinspoon wound the clock back nearly thirty years to a time when they were still finding their place in Australian music. Their energy was infectious, their enthusiasm palpable and their entertainment value high class. In the words of the set closer, Don’t Change boys. We love you just the way you are!
As much fun as the Party Pit was, by this stage of the night my body was telling me I could no longer party in any type of pit and for a change I listened to what it was telling me and called it a day. The strains of Jet started to fill Sandstone Point as we walked to the car to start the long trek home, and judging from the mass of people who now populated the Party Pit and the echoes of crowd participation amid the strains of aussie rock that almost teased me back in, it would ultimately be my loss.
It’s Jet FFS. Enough said…
And, even better, if you don’t live in Queensland, you still have a few chances left to catch this awesome line-up of Aussie acts with Lookout Festival headed through SA, NSW, WA and Victoria before coming to a close. Tickets at www.ticketmaster.com.au
