ANU bar was transformed into a fluoro wonderland in preparation for Bluejuice’s farewell Retrospectable tour, after 14 years together. The stage (including speakers, amps, drums and microphone stands) was awash with pink, yellow and green tape. It was all very reminiscent of the set-up for their 2012 tour, suggesting this was also going to be an insane and messy night all around.
Local favourites Wallflower were a welcome surprise as first support act, as their ethereal vocals and soaring guitars filled the bar. Having been hidden away for some time recording their album, it was good to see what they had been working on. Wallflower ended the set with their latest single Ambien, a track that brings dark concepts into a widely accessible pop song.
The second support act, Sydney’s Jody had a hard act to follow. While their main vocalist didn’t exactly sing in tune, their long haired second singer offered some redemption, and they brought out some fun, simple rock songs.
The crowd were shouting and crowd surfing while they waited for the main act to grace them with their presence. Finally Bluejuice burst onto stage in a flash of colour, their white shirts and fluoro tape standing out in the darkness. Singer Stav Yiannoukas’ t-shirt proudly displayed the words ‘last BJ’ as a constant reminder of the reason everyone was there.
They played their latest two singles S.O.S. and Crazy early on, both of which had the audience clapping, jumping, and singing along to all the words. It didn’t take long for singer Jake Stone to climb on the audience, and they graciously held him aloft as he sung directly to each and every person within his eyeline.
The night felt like a celebration and the end of an era, highlighted when they performed On My Own, with the lyrics even though I know that it’s over hitting particularly hard. Pushing his fist through the roof panels (as he had at this venue two years before) Jake held on while standing on the crowd yet again. At the end of the song he said, “Thank you to the guy that I crippled. I’m sorry.”
Jake announced that they were playing one cover song every night, and would take any suggestions. After our voices grew hoarse from shouting Video Games, we were rewarded – there’s something special and enjoyably disconcerting about the Lana Del Ray classic being crooned by a topless Jake, who had managed to lose his shirt several songs into the bracket.
They saved their biggest songs Act Your Age, Vitriol, and finally Broken Leg for the end. For the encore, they showered the audience in glow-sticks, and everyone waved them around before throwing them all back soon after.
There were some nice moments – at one point, Jake put his arm around Stav, and the two shared a cuddle, and at the end the band bowed with arms round each other. But in true Bluejuice style, they also broke the roof, injured crowd members and spat water on the unlucky (lucky?) people in the front row. It was a classic farewell and it’s safe to say that the Australian music industry will be different without them in it.
