Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Pix by Sarah Gilpin Photography
It was an overcast Saturday morning, and I prayed that it was not going to rain. But it is a gig at Sandstone Point, so of course it’s going to rain. But as I live in hope, I decided against the gumboots (bad decision) and opted to race to K-mart and get a pair of shoes that, if they died in the mud, it would not be so sad. I did pack the rain poncho.
I had a lovely drive to Bribie Island to Sandstone Point Hotel, where a massive day of Australian “Oz Classic Rock” music was to be delivered to celebrate the venue’s tenth birthday. The bands featured today really have nothing left to prove. They’ve got the back catalogues, the chops, and the rock ‘war’ stories. And today, the sets reminded everyone lucky enough to be at Sandstone Point that good rock ‘n’ roll bands do not fade. They just play louder. Cue the earplugs (that I later lost in the deluge and mud as I left the venue).
The day commenced with Matt Finish. It is always so hard to kick off a massive event like this one with all these amazing bands to follow after you – it requires heavy lifting. Matt Finish did a great job of carrying the start of the day by playing their honest rock songs with straight forward style, and they brought the growing crowd together. Matt Finish comprises of founder and multi-award-winning composer and producer John Prior with the fantastic vocalist Glenn Bidmead, Wa Wa Nee guitarist Steve Williams and Lime Spider’s bassist Phil Hall.
Matt Finish delivered a no-frills set of strong songs that for many, mean so much. Matt Finish’s 1981 album Short Note is a landmark album in Australian rock music. They were one of the first bands to blend rock and new wave influences, especially in their enduring title song Short Note – the song is an Australian classic. The band played that song and others like Layman’s Day, Hanging On, Mancini Shuffle and Fade Away.
Matt Finish’s set was intriguing and full of great rock songs. The band were great with their instruments as you would expect from such skilled musicians. It was just lovely to hear the vocalist’s lovely rock voice bring those songs back to life. The story of full circles was also told at the end of the set about Rick Grossman (a very famous bass player now with the Hoodoo Gurus). He was the bass player who helped write and deliver Short Note back in 1981 as a young musician. He would then go on and play with The Divinyls until he ended up with the Hoodoo Gurus and would end the day on stage delivering his new songs with that band.
Well, the day had well and truly kicked off and the skies darkened as The Chantoozies took to the stage. Their fabulous (and I do mean fabulous) guitarist, Jak Housden, was interviewed and did the most beautiful transition into the girls’ set. The Chantoozies are an Australian female pop group, and the duo consisted of Caroline ‘Tottie’ Goldsmith and Eve von Bibra. The Chantoozies started with Stephen Still’s cover Love The One You’re With and got the crowd singing along. The Chantoozies followed it quickly with the Redbone cover of The Witch Queen of New Orleans which was a hit for them in the 1980s. It was a very quick set as they brought a few of their original infectious hit songs like Kiss ’n’ Tell and Wanna Be Up out for an airing, and they sounded good.
The Chantoozies had a phenomenal backing band in bassist Dario Bortolin, amazing drummer Jordan McDonald, guitarist Jak Housden and keyboardist Colin Coorie. The girls finished their set with a cover of Promises’ Baby, It’s You as produced by Brian Canham from Pseudo Echo. They brought the pop sounds and also helped the gender balance. The set was short and sweet.
Then, the stage was reconfigured and a destruction proof microphone and stand were put in place as it was time for Mi-Sex. Mi-Sex comprises Steve Balbi (lead vocals), the very fit Jordan McDonald (drums), the incomparable Murray Burns (keyboards), Dario Bortolin (bass), Jak Housden (guitar and his purple boots) and Colin Coorie (keys).
Mi-Sex have just come off a long tour celebrating the 45th anniversary of their breakout album Graffiti Crimes. They are no heritage group but a living and evolving rock band. The band started the unique rock synth sound of Graffiti Crimes as Steve Balbi came onto the stage and performed the song like slam poetry. Mi-Sex followed with their outstanding songs Falling In And Out and the powerful But You Don’t Care.
As the band delivered the fantastic music, Steve Balbi performed acrobatics, jumped off speakers, the drumkit riser, spun the microphone stand and travelled around with it, berated the crowd about the state of origin, noticed the amount of weed being smoked, and just poured so much energy into the set. The crowd responded. The song, which wasn’t a hit, but should be (the crowd agreed), was Mi-Sex, Your Sex, and it was such fun. After that there was a little mix-up with lyrics on Blue Day, but it was laughed off, started again, and it was delivered beautifully.
Mi-Sex as a band were tight. They played newer songs and the back catalogue of their hits is substantial: Computer Games, People, Castaway and Making Love On The Telephone got the crowd rockin’ and the band let people know that they loved keeping the flame alive of this great music. Then, if Mi-Sex weren’t up enough. Chocolate Starfish performed next, and they are a performance band on steroids!
I wasn’t unsure what to expect as Chocolate Starfish are in the middle of touring their extraordinary show Bat Out Of Hell – The Return. And, if you want to see one of the best gigs of the year, get to it if you can. The Tivoli is sold out, but look for a gig. Would they perform The Bat or their own songs? Well, they did both!
The band decked out in white took to the stage: Zakk Zedras (guitar), John Nixon (bass), Norm Falvo (Keys) and Darren Danielson (drums). Zakk Zedras struck that first chord of the song Bat Out Of Hell, and the temperature at Sandstone Point went up. Adam Thompson came out onto the stage dressed as a bat in black and red feathers, and they performed the whole 8-minute song. The crowd loved it, and singing along was in full flight.
Then, as a band, Chocolate Starfish delivered their own songs, The Beautiful Addiction, the fabulous Mountain, their classic “pub song” as Adam Thompson described it Four Letter Word with “a chorus you can sing drunk”. Adam Thompson then stopped the set, and the whole venue had to sing Happy Birthday to Sandstone Point (which he says he never sings).
Then, the set changed again and Chocolate Starfish went mash-up crazy as they performed most of Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain as they weaved in a diverse range of songs from Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues about the man Adam Thompson shot at Burpengary, to She’ll Be Comin Round The Mountain, and Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler as Adam Thompson launched himself into the crowd to finish the last verse of You’re So Vain. The crowd at the front of the venue was going wild. And, they closed out the set with a huge cover of 4 Non-Blonde’s What’s Up and the crowd were singing along at full volume – and it was full volume. It was a mighty and flamboyant set.
So, after that performance, where do you go next? Well, to classic rock and straight up delivery, and The Angels provided.
John and Rick Brewster are the heart and soul of The Angels. Their raw, electrifying guitar work helped define the band’s powerful sound. John’s ferocious lead guitar riffs, paired with Rick’s solid rhythm, create an intense dynamic that has inspired countless fans and musicians alike. Through years of highs and lows, their brotherly bond has kept The Angels’ spirit alive in their music, creating some of the most iconic songs in Australian rock history. They were strongly supported by Sam Brewster (bass), Tom Brewster (drums), and Nick Norton (vocals) and front man delivery.
Sensing ironic humour was in the air, as the rain came down, The Angels kicked off with their classic song After the Rain. I wish! Then, they delivered No Secrets and Shadow Boxer, and everyone was reminded why The Angels have endured for five decades as one of Australia’s best live bands.
The Angels delivered all the classics like Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again with its famous chant of “No way, Get f@*%$d, F@*k off!” which made John Brewster chuckle. Then, a further classic song that kicked the concert up a gear into We Gotta Get Out of This Place and by then the whole place was going off. At that point, came what felt like a high point of the night’s rocking energy with Down On Me, Face The Day and new song 99 from their latest album released in 2024.
Each song bled into the next with little punctuation, maintaining a high-octane energy that peaked with the best songs of the night, Take A Long Line and the wonderful Marseilles, which was performed with Rick Brewster’s classic guitar solo embedded in it. The Angels still have that raw and urgent tone. These are songs that resonate immediately in a live setting—brooding and punchy, giving the Brewster brothers plenty of room to stretch out their signature guitar sounds.
Well, where to next? It had to be James Reyne. He and his remarkable band: guitarists Brett Kingman and Josh Owen, bassist Chris Bekker, drummer John Watson, keyboardist Sean Johnson, and backing singers Melinda Jackson and Nicky Kurta delivered a set of Australian Crawl classics, James Reyne solo classics and new songs. And, that’s how they started out on stage, no chat, and straight into Boys Light Up and harmonica heaven.
James Reyne is not a musician who lives in the past, and his new rocker of a song Going Back To Nashville proves it. But Sandstone Point was a party night, and he knew it, so he delivered a fantastic mixed set of his solo songs and Australian Crawl classics. From 2015’s What A Pain In The Arse It Is to Beautiful People – Australian Crawls’ first ever single from 1979 -, James Reyne and his band sounded fresh and looked great through the rain.
James Reyne engaged the crowd and halted proceedings as he wanted to know: “how are you surviving the rain”, and in a day so full of bands that he said “how are you taking it in – you must be f$%ked!”, and to let us know that he had been robbed. His phone and identity documents like his passport had been stolen. Thank the lord his beautiful guitar was safe. You could tell the incident was playing on his mind, but he didn’t let it affect his performance. He concentrated on delivering crowd favourites, Australian Crawl songs, like the wonderful Downhearted, Oh No Not You Again, Reckless (Don’t Be So…) and Errol. But it was James Reyne’s solo material that really shone like Hammerhead and Fall Of Rome that were set highlights.
James Reyne and his band delivered a great set that ended too soon. They said goodnight, left the stage. The next thing was a dinosaur backdrop was put into place for the last band of the day, The Hoodoo Gurus. And the rain had really set in. My notebook had turned to pulp, I had lost my earplugs ,and as the ran off my face, it tasted like salt from the ocean, and water ran over everything and everybody…but it’s just water. And, how do you top off all the other bands’ amazing performances throughout the day? Well, you explode onto the stage in a wall of sound and blazing lights. And that is what the Hoodoo Gurus did!
Hoodoo Gurus took to the stage with zero preamble, and blasted away: Dave Faulkner (guitar/vocals), Brad Shepherd (guitar/harmonic/vocals), Rick Grossman (bass/backing vocals), and Nik Rieth (drums) created a furious noise, and then they turned the noise straight into I Want You Back.
From the first note, the Hoodoo Gurus were on, and there was no slack in the musical machine. Harmonies landed, the rhythm section locked into gear, the band played with absolute precision, and you could tell the thousands of hours they have spent playing together as a band, and they are not about to phone in a performance now. This was demonstrated in the Hoodoo Gurus setlist of songs that they wanted to play.
Hoodoo Gurus interspersed newer songs with popular crowd favourites. They delivered Another World, Out That Door, Hung Out to Dry and then the fabulous surf stomp of Tojo. The Hoodoo Gurus back catalogue is extensive, with songs like Chariot of the Gods and then the really popular song like My Girl and the best rockin’ song from Mars Needs Guitars, Poison Pen was played as it is celebrating its 40th birthday this year.
Then, as Dave Faulkner put it, this last part of the set is all “ice cream and chocolate, but the right kind of chocolate”…hmm? And, the Hoodoo Gurus blitzed the crowd with I Come From Your Future, Come Anytime and The Right Time. Then, the topping was sprinkled on with the divine Bittersweet, “a song for the ladies” of Miss Freelove ’69 and the fan favourite sung at huge volume, 1000 Miles Away, which was so good the band started it twice! And, as the last chord faded away, the band wished us all a good night.
But there were still so many songs they hadn’t played: the band came quickly back out on stage as probably they could hear me say from the barrier: “Oh for F*&%sake – its so wet. Get on with it”. The encore was fantastic as Be My Guru was played – and I was swept away and forgot about the heavy rain.
Then, the chords for What’s My Scene rang out as Brad Shepherd and his beautiful guitar playing skills sounded out around the venue. Then, the Hoodoo Gurus let Nik Rieth loose with his five-stroke drum beat intro for Like Wow, Wipeout and that ended their set, the party on the point was over, and it meant the crowd could seek shelter.
I was feeling sorry for the Maca’s staff on the highway as 5000 people headed back to Brisbane seeking hot drinks, apple pies, and a place to change out of wet shoes and clothes. My hands looked like I had been soaking in a bath for hours. I was wet, shoes were in a questionable state, lost earplugs, notebook pulped, cold, hungry and cramped leg muscles from 11 hours standing at the barrier. It was fantastic!
All the bands had put on wonderful sets based around their Australian classic rock songs at Sandstone Point’s Birthday bash, and the Hoodoo Gurus ended a day and night filled with great music in style.
