Live Review: The Bennies @ The Triffid

Saturday night was a big one for The Bennies, celebrating their largest interstate headlining show in a very sold-out and very warm ‘Triffid. The crowd showed the diversity of ‘Bennies fans with a pretty random mix of characters, all super excited for the night ahead. Melbourne hardcore outfit Clowns psyched the audience up pumping out fun, quick-paced, and hard hitting tracks. The mosh pit was already in full swing and Clowns kept the mood up with their charming onstage persona.

The Bennies came out to an absolutely packed venue, with the front of the audience already pushing against the barriers. They all had giant grins on their faces as frontman Anty explained how stoked they were to be there. They kicked off with Heavy Reggae, complete with saxophone, and so began one of the most amazing gigs. The quick percussions and general dorky-punkness of Detroit Rock Ciggies had everyone on their feet and thrilled, jumping along while yelling every word of the chorus right back at the band.

“The mosh had quickly become a friendly and tightly condensed mix of fans grooving and moshing together, happily sharing water, J’s, and good fun.”

What’s Your Fuckin’ Problem got to a quick start and The Triffid was shaken by the audience jumping and partying along. Anty and bassist Craig already looked totally thrilled with how the night was going, the crowd became even rowdier with the opening rock synthesiser sounds of Heavy Disco. The mosh had quickly become a friendly and tightly condensed mix of fans grooving and moshing together, happily sharing water, J’s, and good fun.

Older ‘Bennies faves, Highrider and Acid on Me Brain received an amazing response as the mosh (somehow) got tighter and everyone fed off of the guys’ super happy vibes, returning them by singing every word back while jumping as one ocean of sweaty stoners. Anty threw a shout-out to Mary Jane and the room filled with smoke as the reggae-punk riffs of Sensi Mi got the crowd hyped. It felt like everyone in the room was chanting “Weooah, set me free/ weooah, sensi mi”.  

“…the audience were in total awe of the stoner-rock quartet and everyone around looked like they were in total euphoria.”

The guys cracked a lot of jokes and were visibly feeding off of each other’s energy, the gig began to feel like a family event that the audience was lucky enough to tag along to. My Bike and Anywhere You Wanna Go gave the audience a chiller vibe and so they came as a good precursor to Burnout City and Party Till I Die (Or Die Trying), where the mosh went crazy.

Anty gazed out with a huge grin on his face, “We’re f*cking Stoked”. Corruption’s slow drumming and dark synths came in and everyone clapped along before ascending to party mode. Announcing they had two songs left, Anty thanked everyone for the night before smashing out Party Machine. Every song in the set was as good as the last but Party Machine was next level, the audience were in total awe of the stoner-rock quartet and everyone around looked like they were in total euphoria.

They played Knights Forever for us before running off stage. The ‘one more song’ chant went a little longer usual and we could guess why. The Bennies came back on looking even more chuffed than before, Legalise (But Don’t Tax) was up, and the easy going beat kept the crowd moving while singing along. O brother where art thou wrapped things up and saw Anty walk out onto the audience in some sort of next level stage diving. Needless to say, The Bennies put on a seriously rad show, 10/10!

Read our recent Q & A with The Bennies HERE

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