I arrived at the Vic On The Park just in time to catch the end of MYC’s sound check. Amazing. After all this time they’re still flawless. Anyway, after ironing out the mixing problems, Steve just calmly stepped off the front of the stage and headed to the back of the room to talk to some mates. He’s pretty fucking tall.

Horsell Common started the night off proper with a fairly convincing set. A lot of their songs sound good, but need some fine-tuning to gain coherency. Regardless, they yelled their way through about twenty minutes of on-stage shenanigans before heading off. I’d never heard these guys before, but I’d recommend seeing them play some time if you get the chance, as they are pretty good.

Next up was Deadstare. All I can say is ‘Wow’. Brett’s energy on stage is contagious as he paces back and forth summoning up the rage necessary for his performance during the intro to a song. If you’re into hardcore hardcore, you’ll be into Deadstare. None of that melodic crap here folks. The pit really started getting going during their set, and for the last song, Brett pulled a chick from the pit on-stage and she belted out a duet with him. Nice.

Conation (from Newcastle) took a while to get ready. And when they finally got amped up, the singer sort of looked around the packed room and said something like they were out of their league when compared to the other bands performing that night. Such self-depreciating stuff really endears a band to the audience. Anyway, out comes a violin just for a change and off they go: Hardcore as all fuck, with a violin accompaniment. Crazy shit, man. The drummer was amazing, and I swear, just serenely smiled his way through, calm as anything, his head and torso hardly moving but his limbs moving incredibly fast and accurately. I really liked these guys, but like all the supports, I wanted them to hurry up so I could see the band we’d all gone to see: MYC.

And then they were on stage. For the most part a bit older, a bit fatter, and a bit less ‘punk’, but damn it, it was MYC! Up there! On stage! Why was this so amazing to me? Well, after their reunion shows in Melbourne a couple of years ago I thought that was it. They would never play again. But I was wrong and I am insanely glad. I can’t remember exactly what songs they played and what they didn’t. I was too into the pit, but I taped it, so I guess I can post a track list of the last 70% of the show when I get around to listening to it (the first 30% was taped over, but dem’s the breaks I guess). Technically, they were 100% flawless. My mate (female) got an instant crush on Steve. Remember before when I said they were older and fatter? Well, that goes for everyone except Steve. That dude is cut as a motherfucker. And he sure threw himself around the stage like a young ‘un. Gone though is his shaved head. A few guys got up on stage from the pit, my mate’s work colleague included (who before the show had wondered if his heart could take the excitement of seeing One Inch Punch play live), and the guys were really cool about it, letting them sing and dance and so on. After the ubiquitous hugs they got off the stage and back into the pit. Anyway, eventually the time came to wrap it up, and after announcing their last song they proceeded to play seven more. I have to say, I was absolutely exhausted by this stage, and though I know it was wrong, I’m glad the set finally ended when it did for if it had gone on any longer I think I may well have died.

All in all, this would rate as probably the best show I’ve ever been to. I enjoyed all the acts, and for fuck’s sake, it was MYC. I can die happy now.

By the way, some guy was filming it, and he said to look out in Drum Media for news of its release in a couple of months.