Last Wednesday evening I found myself appreciating the warm peaceful surrounds of Belconnen, on this very pleasant mid-week summer night. I made my way up to The Basement, a small alternative bar situated on top of the very steep Cohen Street in Belconnen.
I’ve heard many things about The Basement, most of which made me a little nervous as I entered the bar, but as I walked into the dimly lit room and surveyed my surroundings, I was pleasantly surprised.
People were relaxed and sitting around talking or playing pool, though the choice of clothing colour seemed to be unanimously black, I felt comfortable in my surroundings.
The band that was to blow our minds this evening was none other than American outfit; Hawthorne Heights, who haven’t graced our shores in over six years. But first, to rev up the crowd and prepare our ears for an electric guitar assault were four other bands lined up to play.
First off the rank was The London Town Fire, a local punk band that hails from Canberra, and is quite a player on the local alternative music scene. Their sound was similar to Blink 182 and their performance was full of energy. They jumped around the stage and used up every inch they had. The small crowd was drawn to the stage and seemed to watch in awe as the five Canberra lads worked up a storm.
Next up was another Canberra band Drawing North. These guys were just as energetic as London Town Fire, and as The Basement steadily filled up with more spectators, the crowd around the stage grew to watch these young men work up a sweat as they rocked the joint with an amazing cover of Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep.’ Their set was disappointingly short, but understandable as there were more bands waiting to rock the foundations.
It was then Atlantis Awaits turn to treat us all to some punk rock tunes, the lead singer of this Sydney band was an enchanting young lady, who’s small stature was no representation of her strong voice, belting out each song with enthusiastic head-banging and jumping around on stage. Her vocals were complimented by a male band member’s rough screaming and of course the bands amazing guitar work and drumming.
Just when we thought the bar could not possibly get any louder, Sienna Skies took to the stage and blasted the room with some hardcore head-banging tunes.
The Sydney six piece band had the audience jumping and gave everybody a much needed jolt of energy, preparing us nicely for headlining act; Hawthorne Heights.
By now The Basement was quite full and I was pleasantly surprised at the turn out, considering it was a Wednesday night. I’ve seen venues not even half as full on Friday nights in Canberra.
Finally, the much-anticipated Hawthorne Heights took to the stage and launched straight into their set. The rockers from Ohio treated us all to a loud, exciting show, interspersed with occasional banter with the enthusiastic crowd.
Lead singer JT Woodruff renamed Canberra to ‘Cranberry’ due to the band’s incapability to pronounce our hometown’s name. But he was forgiven, in fact his idea received cheers from the audience, such is the power this amazing punk band has over its Canberra fans.
They ended their set on a high, the crowd had arms in the air and there was barely room to move as everyone inched as close as they could towards Hawthorne Heights.
At the end of their set JT Woodruff invited us all to hang around after the show to meet them. There are certainly no diva antics with this band, they are comfortable around their adoring fans, and most welcoming to actual interaction to those who made it to their first ever Canberra show.
