As Flaming Wrekage’s brutal fourth album tickles your earholes, you know this is something special. …
NOFX with Bodyjar and Charlotte & The Harlots
Saturday January 20, 2024
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney Australia
Put yourself in Charlotte & The Harlots‘ position. You’re a young band, frequently on the pub and club circuit, suddenly playing a 5000-capacity room in front of a distant, indifferent crowd there to see one band (hint: not yours). You’d be forgiven for crumbling at the thought, but it’s entirely to the Harlots’ credit that they come at their half-hour with chutzpah. The Canberra upstarts don’t take the moment for granted, attempting to curtail the room’s cavernous nature by playing it straight like a Frankie’s (RIP) or Lansdowne gig. This approach, as it plays out, has both advantages and disadvantages.
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In the pros column, it allows the early arrivals to loosen up and lessen the seemingly-insurmountable distance from the stage down to the dancefloor, filling in the empty space and nodding along to the band’s upbeat brand of scuzzy, rousing rock. Simultaneously, however, it leaves some of their gaping flaws–chiefly, a lack of established dynamics–left out for all to see. You might be able to get away with some of the more forgettable moments of the set in a dive-bar setting, but this is the Hordern Pavilion we’re talking about–it’s your A-game or nothing.
Ultimately, Charlotte & The Harlots brim with potential– and now, having come out of a pressure-cooker environment like this, they’ll have a better understanding of how to harness it the next time they’re on a stage this size. Because there will be a next time.
Charlotte & The Harlots // Photo by Ruby Boland
Charlotte & The Harlots // Photo by Ruby Boland
At venues of this scale, it’s common for a singer to venture off-mic and allow for their makeshift choir to fill in the lyrical blanks. That rarely happens, however, when it’s one of the support acts. Then again, Bodyjar aren’t your average support act–they’ve been a headliner in their own right for some 25 years, with one of the most celebrated catalogues in Australian punk rock. Naturally, then, when frontman Cam Baines calls upon the crowd to help him out in hits like One in a Million and signature song Not the Same, it’s a foregone conclusion how they’re going to respond.
Anyone who has caught the band on tour in the last year–particularly on their No Touch Red anniversary tour this past September–can attest to them being in career-best form going into 2024. From their airtight vocal harmonies to the persistent drum work, the Melbourne band can tear through a greatest-hits set like this in an absolute cinch. Every time you see Bodyjar in action, you’re appreciative of the years of not only the years of service they’ve put in, but the fact they’re still around to tell the tale and sing the songs of a million comings of age. Besides everything else, the novelty of seeing people moshing and crowd-surfing to a Simon & Garfunkel song will never not bring a smile to one’s face as they strike up A Hazy Shade of Winter once more.
Bodyjar // Photo by Ruby Boland
Bodyjar // Photo by Ruby Boland
Bodyjar // Photo by Ruby Boland
And now, the end is near. Tonight is the beginning of the end for NOFX insofar as their Australian touring is concerned, and rest assured they did it their way. Was it always the right way? God no–even before they’ve played a note, Fat Mike is already rehashing his lame “trans-parent” joke he tried back at Good Things Festival in 2022 (“my pronouns are ‘huh?’ and ‘where?’”). Still, put it this way: We wouldn’t let just any drunk uncle get away with this shit.
For a band that has often been sloppy to the point of pride (lest we forget 1995’s I Heard They Suck Live), one of the key things that sticks out across these two hours is how surprisingly cohesive NOFX are. Mike prefaces every other song by warning they “haven’t rehearsed this one,” and then still plays it more-or-less note perfect anyway. One of the band’s biggest local hits, the Hottest 100-placing Franco Un-American, fumbles out of the gate thanks to lead guitarist El Hefe not being ready. Rather than serve as a detriment, everyone simply laughs and cheers as Eric Melvin continues the opening riff over and over. It goes off just the same–even when they’re imperfect, they fail upwards into being perfect.
NOFX // Photo by Ruby Boland
NOFX // Photo by Ruby Boland
Another surprise is the reminders of NOFX’s deceptive versatility. There’s sonic detours into reggae on Kill All the White Man, there’s one of the closest things they have to a ballad in Whoops, I OD’d (dedicated in poor/perfect taste to Taylor Hawkins), and even the multi-facted punk epic Lori Meyers making a strong case for the band being more than just Linoleum–and even then, it must be stressed ‘Linoleum’ still kicks arse after all these years.
The stage is filled with bodies throughout, bringing a rare communal feel. A litany of friends watch on from stage-left, while a pig-pen of superfans are stage-right, each having paid $999(!) for the privilege. This being a NOFX show, however, there’s always going to be one. Towards the end of the first set, one bright spark amidst the latter breaks free, rushing Mike to give him a sloppy kiss on the cheek before he’s shirtfronted by a half-dozen workers. Sure hope it was worth it, guy– especially knowing what Fat Mike did to a similarly over-zealous fan in Sydney a decade ago.
NOFX // Photo by Ruby Boland
NOFX // Photo by Ruby Boland
Our final curtain-closing moments with NOFX (for those only going tonight, anyway) culminate in perhaps the most hilarious and pitch-perfect send-off they could ask for. Theme From A NOFX Album from Pump Up the Valium is our finale, with Melvin switching to accordion and touring keyboardist Karina Deniké leading the crowd in a sea-shanty sway. As Mike says his goodbyes and the other members motion to leave, Melvin sticks with the accordion.
Soon enough, he’s getting the crowd singing the ‘da-da-da’ melody ad nauseum, throwing in his own custom lyrics and quips over the top of it. You know you’re stretching a joke when even Fat Mike of all people is trying to cut you off, while a roadie brings over a towel to drape over a still-riffing Melvin in the spirit of James Brown. After what feels like an alternative, Melvin has seemingly squeezed the life out of both the accordion and the bit. Faces sore from laughter, shouting, singing, moshing or a combination of all, we file out.
NOFX // Photo by Ruby Boland
NOFX // Photo by Ruby Boland
NOFX // Photo by Ruby Boland
A lot of simultaneous truths exist about this band. NOFX were a rude, insensitive, chauvinistic, obnoxious band that were routinely offensive to just about everyone. They were a Rorschach of punk, being everything right or wrong with it depending on who was looking. They were a band of crafty, clever songwriters responsible for some of the catchiest choruses and riffs of the 90s and the 2000s. We loved them, we hated them, we sang with them, we threw shit at them.
For 40 years, regardless of how we reacted to NOFX, they did it their way.
LIVE NATION, SBM & MOTHERSHIP EVENTS PRESENTS
NOFX Final Tour:
40 Years
40 Cities
40 Songs Per Night
TUE 23 JAN – BRISBANE, FORTITUDE MUSIC HALL
WOLVES’ IN WOLVES CLOTHING / PUNK IN DRUBLIC / THE WAR ON ERRORISM
w/ Frenzal Rhomb / Flangipanis
WED 24 JAN – BRISBANE, FORTITUDE MUSIC HALL
WHITE TRASH, TWO HEEBS AND A BEAN / SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE SHOES / THE DECLINE
w/ The Bennies / VOIID
FRI 26 JAN – MELBOURNE, FESTIVAL HALL
WOLVES’ IN WOLVES CLOTHING / PUNK IN DRUBLIC / THE WAR ON ERRORISM
w/ Bodyjar / Something Something Explosion
SAT 27 JAN- MELBOURNE, FESTIVAL HALL
WHITE TRASH, TWO HEEBS AND A BEAN / SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE SHOES / THE DECLINE
w/ Clowns / Fever Shack
