If there were any strangers to Bibby’s music in the crowd, opening with a track named ‘C*nt’ certainly let them know what they were in for. Bibby’s particular style of yobbo punk meets folk rock is perfectly suited for throwing back beers and singing along at the top of your lungs, which is exactly what the crowd proceeded to do as Bibby and co. tore through crowd favourites like ‘Goodbye Johnny’, ‘Hates My Boozin’’ and, of course, ‘Medicine’.
Drinks flowed as the set wore on, and the swaying crowd began to mosh – bodies now being thrown against one another as drinks were dropped, smashed glass soon carpeting the floor of the bandroom. But no one seemed to care about the spilt beer and forming bruises, it was all in good spirit.
On stage, Bibby’s face was gleaming with sweat as his fingers flew up and down his guitar with such speed and fury you half expected smoke to start billowing from the strings. Rather than crowd surfing or flitting around the stage like a madman, Bibby poured every morsel of his energy into the music, spitting the lyrics with a mouthful of venom and adding his signature vocal quirks to the delivery.
Before things got too out of hand, Bibby booted his Dog Act from the stage and stripped things back a little, first playing a song called ‘Hippies’– a hilarious and all too relatable dressing down of some of his former roommates – which he let slip was on an album he’d recorded a few years ago, shrugging that he might release it someday before he was onto ‘Red FX Falcon’.
Soon enough Bibby’s bandmates were joining him back onstage to help wrap up the set with another handful of songs, but not without some introductions first. Bibby welcomed back his bassist Strawberry Pete (Peter Gower) and drummer Dirty Dave (David Taylor), telling the crowd Gower had broken his back just a year ago while Taylor was currently nursing a cracked rib – the jury is still out on whether the latter was a joke, as surely nobody can slam a kit with that ferocity while sporting a broken rib. Whatever the case, the roaring energy on stage never wavered and the crowd followed suit.
The audience were hanging on Bibby’s every word, watching in awe as he delivered a spoken word piece backed by a funky drum and bass beat and chanting along with the lyrics to tracks like ‘Wish You Were Dead’. All too soon, the set grew to a climactic end with ‘Craigieburn’which saw Taylor slamming the drums and Gower writhing around on the ground as he played. There was no mucking around with an encore and everyone was happy with that, they’d well and truly gotten their money’s worth.
Bibby emanates a certain gritty charm that allows him to somehow make lyrics that speak of cask wine and cunnilingus seem profound. He’s not there to impress you, he’s just up there to play his guitar and sing his tunes and there’s something about that you can’t help but be drawn in by.
Highlight: The infectious ferocity of Bibby’s set.
Lowlight: Losing some blood in the mosh after being kicked by a guy who had shards of broken glass stuck to the sole of his shoe.
Crowd favourite: ‘Medicine’.
