Every city has its allegorical coliseum. A place where man and beast can do battle for the entertainment of the masses.
Brisvagus is no exception and has a big paddock in its centre called the Brisbane Showgrounds (affectionately known to all Queenslanders as the Ekka. Established in 1876, the Ekka has seen many beastly battles. Who could forget the controversial speed car feature race on 10 November 1962 when Bill Goode’s notorious Falcon Q5 was awarded the race after breaking down and failing to finish. Or 2002’s Livid where Oasis duelled with Morrissey. Or 2015 when seven-year-old Mater Vandeleur captivated the crowds and the Channel 7 news with his diving pigs. So it is fitting that after a two year hiatus the first Laneway Music Festival of 2023 should kick off at the Ekka.
Which act would win? Would they come from left field. When Yard Act take the Hell Fck Yeah stage on a steam room of a Brisbane evening they are a dark horse on the prowl. Lead Singer James Smith is up and crowing like John Thursday. The band add muscular post punk funk with angular guitars to Smiths spoken croon. The Overload is post Brexit Britain angst with a human touch.
The age of the gentrified savage
The overload of discontent.
Smith’s acerbic wit flows off the tongue and launches at your throat propelled by Sam ‘Shippy‘ Shipman’s jagged guitar and Ryan Needham’s driven base. Shippy commits all to the cause during the superb Dead Horse. He slides wildly across the stage catapulting into the side scaffolding before staggering to his feet. And the beat goes on. And Smith rants on, obsessed with the state of the Old Dart.
That our culture will be just fine
When all that’s left is nobheads morris dancing
To sham 69?
Smith gives a shout out to Melbourne punks Eddie Current Suppression Ring before launching into a brilliant cover of Which Way To Go.What follows is the urgent dance-punk groove of Pour Another before seamlessly moving into yappy post-punk number Rich. Smith is not match fit. Strong of mind but born with a weasel’s body he needs a little sit down to catch his breath.
The human drum machine Jay Russell powers on as always. But it’s all on again for The Trapper’s Pelts – the song that started it all in 2019 before the SARS CoV-2 pandemic sent Yard Act back to their bedrooms after just three live performances. Then like their protagonist the trapper, they are gone…
I saw the trapper disappear from my rear view mirror
With no pelts to call his own
Yard Act did the Ekka proud. They were faster than a drift of swine and as graceful as ‘un cochon plongée’
australianrules.com.au 