Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Powerstation October 15th 2017

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“You do not know how lucky you are to be here tonight” one Me First and the Gimme Gimmes fan told me before they took to the stage, I was skeptical but at the end could not have agreed more! he was right; so very, very right.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a San Francisco punk supergroup comprised of punk legends Fat Mike (NOFX), Chris Shiflett (No Use For a Name), Joey Cape (Lagwagon), Dave Ruan (also of Lagwagon) and ably fronted by Spike Slawson (Swingin’ Utters), all members of bands signed to Fat Mike’s label ‘Fat Wreck Chords’, who, surprisingly enough, only perform covers.

Unfortunately, due to Fat Mike and and Chris Shiflett’s busy schedules, they were unable to appear at last night’s show but luckily Jay Bentley of Bad Religion was able to assume bass duties while Lindsay Mcdougall of Australian band Frenzal Rhomb covered for Chris on the guitar.

This was the band’s last show on the ‘Rake It In: Greatest Hits’ tour, which was also in order to promote the new greatest hits album.

Although I knew of the band members, I was not aware of the band itself till I saw the New Zealand tour announcement. I was then surprised to learn that the show had sold out quickly and then thankfully for those of us late off the mark, was upgraded from Kings Arms to Powerstation to meet the increased demand, and these extra tickets also quickly sold out too! I was interested to check out the hype surrounding this band who surprisingly had not released any original material.

I arrived to a packed out Powerstation still feeling drained from Die!Die!Die!’s excellent show the night before at the Whammy bar and as I entered the Powerstation, I was rudely greeted by loud, obnoxious and incredibly intoxicated gig goers who, throughout the show, were chucking cups, bottles and cans across the venue, showing complete disrespect for the venue and the punters caught up in the crossfire!

The venue was packed with middle age groovers, majority of whom were wearing NOFX shirts.

I was able to catch the end of Nuggiez set which consisted of heavy, high volume, punk which was enough to keep the impatient Me First fans occupied.

During the Me First stage set up, I had a brief conversation with two fans who told me they had been following the band for fifteen years. They were kind enough to give me a full run down on the band and any information that I could deem useful. “If you a fan of punk, you’re in heaven right now” one told me. Chatting with these two fans was a nice change from the rather sour greeting I got earlier upon entering.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes took to the stage exactly at 9:00 as was promised. All wearing matching black pants and shirts with a gold tie uniform as well as same guitar bodies, except for Spike who had an extra gold blazer on show.

Opening up with George Gershwin’s Summertime which would be the first of many covers, the mosh pit was instantly in full force. The crowd was yelling the words out and the floor was rumbling. Spike was strutting across with stage with extreme swagger and the middle age performers proved they were still as punk as ever! Each member was incredibly enthusiastic and loving the performance despite this being the last show of a long tour.

Between songs, Spike would converse with the audience, telling them stories and asking questions as well as sharing their sense of humour and foul language.

Mid set, Spike performed a ukulele rendition of Madonna’s Crazy For You, during which encouraged loud sing along.

One aspect of the performance that I was not a massive fan of are the band introductions. Although they were well thought up and crazy, they were almost a bit too long and at times quite contrived. We are here to hear music, not chit chat and try hard dialogue!

During this, Australian guitarist Lindsay voiced his respect for New Zealand’s impressive rugby efforts and our marriage equality law, both things Australia is trying to match!

The band’s covers of Elton John’s Rocket Man and Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive (which the band asked the macho men of the crowd to release their inner diva for) were my personal highlights of the night.

Me First really did prove me wrong when I pondered how on earth a band could have such a big following and career playing only covers. The show was wild, fun and possibly one of the best I’ve been to all year and I have been lucky to see some incredible shows in 2017. Despite being a Sunday night, the crowd proved they were still ready to go crazy with Me First, even on a school night!

By the time Me First left the stage, I really did feel lucky to have witnessed this show and what a pleasant surprise this turned out to be. Come back soon guys

Jonathan Strock

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Ivan Karczewski:

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