Teenage Joans, Between You & Me, Mum Friends @ UniBar, Adelaide 9/8/2024
Hang up the phone and check this out. Pop punk starlets Between You & Me and Teenage Joans touring the country together off the back of recently released joint track 1800-Painless. You’ve got to see this.
What a collaboration the song is and to now have both striding the boards is a night filled with cherry flavoured melodies, anthems and cyanide lyrics. Perfect.
Hometown heroes Teenage Joans do close tonight however fellow South Aussies Mum Friends open to a large crowd keen for the night events.
Mum Friends themselves sprinkle 90’s pop within their alternative punk groove that doesn’t have to scream when their delivery is so sharp. New track Clean, a warmth when conversing with the audience and catchy grooves make them a delightful start to the night.
Melbourne’s Between You & Me had recently played through Adelaide on their own headline tour for the Shit Yeah! EP and open with In The Middle and Kill My Vibe as the windmill shaking bassist James Karagiozis whirls everyone into shape.
Vocalist Jake Wilson continues to exceed his performance each time we see them, as he engages the audience about the Olympics before the catchy Nevermind has everyone bouncing. He owns the role like that kid at school who didn’t care to be told what he was doing; he’s doing it anyway.
Sad Songs and Go To Hell are sing a long great as no one leaves the room such is the magnetic force of the lads’ performance. If this is the first night of the tour, this group is only going to get better as the shows roll on.
So how do you top that? You bring out the hometown team. A-team that went toe to toe with the Foo Fighters and recently took on the United States since we last saw them here. Teenage Joans.
Opening with a triple header from the brilliant album The Rot That Grows Inside My Chest in Sweet Things Rot, Ruby Doomsday and Superglue, early technical issues don’t impede the energy of the duo.
Cahli Blakers makes the most of moments away from the microphone to jump, bounce, head-bang in every corner, bringing each audience member into the the duos world.
Tahlia Borg hits hard and the harmonies really ground the anarchic side to keep everything balanced and powerful.
Kids as young as seven are clapping along to oldies like Wine and Terrible as Blakers honed front person skills lets the audience take over in a beautiful serenade before the duo go back to the album with the brilliant Tennis Skirt and Honey.
Teenage Joans are our city’s fastest rising stars, their imagination, their vitality their dedication to turning the rawness of the world into the sweetness of fruit is magnificent and tonight’s performance continues to show that. The rest of the tour will be one to remember.
Yes, both bands got up and did the 1800- Painless track together. I won’t attempt to describe it, I’ll just say you’ll be missing out if you don’t see it. Much like the tour really.
Live Review By Iain McCallum