The A-List

Author: Alex Mentzer

Aussie Invasion Tour – March 31 at Sokol Auditorium

First off was the opening band, Neon, whose performance was pretty good. Their bass player was definitely good-looking, plus she could really play the bass. While the band was decent, the crowd was not. I would say three fourths of the guys were just staring at the bass player’s butt.

Next up was The Living End; they really put on a heck of a show. This fact probably wasn’t noticed because the crowd was too busy smoking their cigarettes. I have never seen a worse crowd at a concert before. They only really cared when the band played a song that they had heard on the radio.

Two Australians who attend Creighton University were there and they kept chanting Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, – Oiey, Oiey, Oiey,” and waving a huge Australian flag. During The Living End’s performance I could understand what was being said. Then, I realized that the Australian guy was singing every word in my ear. They were cool though; they actually got into the music.

The Living End was very professional, and I hope they come back to the area.

Next up on the Aussie Invasion Tour was Jet; I didn’t know they were from Australia until I saw the concert bill. This might explain why they are so dirty and why they kicked so much butt.

Jet opened up with “Cold Hard B****.” I didn’t expect them to open up with a song released to the masses just weeks before. Of course, the crowd went crazy for that song, but soon after, they were back to standing and smoking their cigarettes.

About four songs into their performance they played “Are You Going To Be My Girl” and once again the crowd loved them for another three minutes. Throughout the rest of Jet’s performance the crowd seemed in awe, but really they just didn’t care.

About twenty minutes and a dozen obscenities later the roadies finished setting up and Craig Nicholls stumbled on stage followed by the rest of the band. As they broke into their opening song I figured the crowd was ready for The Vines, and they were at first.

Then Craig fell and broke the knob off his guitar and the songs were out of tune because the roadies couldn’t tune it. Craig seemed pretty angry about this and kept throwing his guitar off stage.

The Vines soon turned it down and played a few slow ones. I guess they thought it might make the crowd go to sleep more than they already were (except for the Schuyler kids and Schuylerites on the right side of the stage). With an awesome show under their belts The Vines left the stage.

I knew they would come back and play a few more, but it was up to the crowd to keep them going. I wasn’t so sure about this audience as I saw some people leaving. Then I heard some chanting and clapping, but it didn’t last. After a few moments of silence, The Vines came back onto the stage and kicked out “Get Free,” their big hit from a couple of years ago. Finally they got the respect from the crowd they deserved. The once still audience turned into a raging crowd and it got crazy. My favorite shirt was ripped almost off my body, I saw my friends singing and I looked back and saw a sea of kids sweating and jumping. The Vines closed the show with ” **** the World,” a song to which Lane Cerny and Bob Foran had dedicated their homemade shirts. Once again a very violent sea of bodies came to life. The Vines put on a great show and their new CD, “Winning Ways,” is a must for any fan.