It was a scorcher on the beach on Sunday, and crazy numbers turned up at By the C in Queens Elizabeth Park in Coolangatta. It was a hell of a lineup to see, and a hell of a lineup to get in; I like many others were not prepared for how big the crowd was. By The C was a 1980s star-studded festival of some of the best bands of many people's youth, and an awesome venue to have a gig.
With the massive queue to get in I did miss the local support, but caught the end of Mental as Anything’s set, and they had the crowd nicely warmed up,wrapping up with The Beatles classic 'Rock n Roll Music'.
Do Re Mi were next. To tell you the truth the last time I saw Do Re Mi, it was at the Jet Club at Coolangatta (Does anybody remember the Jet Club?), and Deborah Conway has lost nothing at all (in fact I think her vocals are maybe even stronger), and the band was way tighter than back in the early 1980s. The building crowd enjoyed the tunes, and it was a well presented polished set.
Next up was what I thought one of the slickest performances of the concert. The Church have been gigging solidly for the last 2 years, and are about to leave for another US tour, having done US, Europe and multiple tours of Australia in 2018. Some of the crowd I had talked to had never seen The Church before, but I am sure they would have been impressed. Tight, bright, and with a gorgeous sound, they won the audience over. The singalong in 'Unguarded Moment' was very moving, you could see the band were loving it, especially singer and bass player Steve Kilbey, who was incredibly animated and wearing a huge grin for most of the gig.
Next up was the Sunnyboys - a much anticipated gig - and quite a while between gigs for the Gold Coast followers of this iconic band. Last time they played at Coolangatta, they broke venue records, and there were way more peeps here to watch them than at that gig. The Sunnyboys were in fine form, and the rhythm section of Bill Bilson and Oxley were as solid as ever (having always been the backbone the band was built on). Jeremy Oxley was looking fine on the guitar, and Richard Burgman as always the glue holding it all together. Richard said, “We are the Sunnyboys, get ready to dance!” Really, how could you not? All the favourites were played, alongside rarely played numbers like 'The Stooge'. They had the beach rocking. Then Richard Burgman announced that they were about to do their hit 'Alone with You' and they had a special guest. Well Kingscliff’s number 1 band brought out Kingscliff’s number one surfer, 7 time World Champion, Stephanie Gilmore. Epiphone in hand she played and sang, and then ripped into the lead break with Jeremy. The crowd was in raptures!
Icehouse wrapped up the evening, and they came out nice and early with the Flowers classic 'Walls', rocking it up and getting the very happy crew moving again. It was a big day, and most of the audience was hanging around for the classics - the place went nuts when they played 'Great Southern Land'. Icehouse put on a very professional and well-tuned show.
It wrapped up a long hot day, but good on the organisers for having plenty of water available, and even giving away a re-useable bottle if you scanned an app. Great gig.
IMAGES (c) Marjorie Skea | Single Origin Creative
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