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COG

w/ MM9 and Free State

Queensbridge Hotel – Melbourne, 22th November, 2008.

I arrived at the venue half way through the opening act; Free State’s set which is a shame because from what I saw they played a good solid set of fine Aussie rock. The Melbourne boys showed good stage presence with good clean, strong vocals and some nice guitar and drum sounds. They proved to be a good opening support for Cog and would be worth keeping an eye out for if you enjoy the rockier side of life.

Next was MM9 who, while they drew a strong response from the crowd failed to impress me. I don’t think there was anything bad about MM9, I’d even say that they had some good ideas and aren’t afraid to try new things in there sound but for my mind there was something missing and they just didn’t do it for me. Don’t let my opinion deter you though, if you like Cog check out MM9 you might love them.

Finally it was time for the band we’d all come to see; Cog. This gig had been postponed from the original October date due to the birth of Flynn Gower’s child and the crowd were clearly eager after the wait. Melbourne has always been a strong fan base for Cog and that was evident from the rapturous applause the band received from the near capacity crowd when they finally entered the stage. Opening with “No Other Way”, the opening track from the new CD “Sharing Space” it was clear from the get-go that Cog were on song so to speak and we were in for a treat.

They didn’t disappoint, playing a good selection of ten of the thirteen songs from “Sharing Space” with a smattering of tracks from the previous (and only other full length) album “The New Normal” they seemed to only get stronger as the night went on. Not a great deal of crowd interaction happen through the show the band preferring to let there music do the talking. That’s not to say they weren’t engaging, quite the contrary in fact. All three band members were animated on stage and were clearly having fun. Flynn did take a few moments to thank Melbourne for the support through out the bands carer and also to apologise for the postponement of the show and given the crowd response I think he’ll be able to sleep at night.

Cog were perfect and the crowed clearly loved every minute of the show with applause, a bouncing pit and even crowd surfing a common site. I do have two negative things I wish to say about the gig though. Firstly the vocals seemed seriously lacking during the first few songs but the sound tech woke up later on thankfully and the mix was good for the rest of the gig. Second would be the song selection. This is mostly personal taste but there were a couple of songs I was really hoping to hear that were not played. I would have much rather heard “The River Song” (it always sends shivers down my spine) and “Problem, Reaction, Solution” in place of “Resonate” and “My Enemy” but given the later two were the biggest commercial successes off the first album I really can’t hold the choice to play them against the band. I was also surprised that nothing from “Just Visiting” was played as the two-part EP had only been re-released as a single disc in August and this could have been a good opportunity to garner more sales from newer fans who don’t know the older material.

All in all it was a great show with Cog displaying once again there tightness and perfection on stage. It’s also worth noting that who ever the light tech was should get a pay raise. The timing of the lighting through out the gig was just perfect and really helped build the mood.

COG MELBOURNE SETLIST: Saturday 22nd November, 2008
No Other Way
Anarchy OK
What if
Resonate
The Movies Over
Say Your Last Goodbye
Town of Lincoln
The Spine
Sharing Space
Bird of Feather
Real Life
Swamp
Are You Interested?
My Enemy
Bitter Pills

Reviewed by Franky