Corner Bushfire Benefit

After wasting some time in the city I headed to Richmond to meet Tash and Mary at the Corner Hotel for the Corner Bushfire Benefit. As you probably know, Victoria suffered through severe bushfires a few weeks ago which left over 200 people dead and countless others homeless as some towns were burnt to the ground. Many venues throughout Melbourne were holding benefit concerts tonight with proceeds going to the Red Cross. The first act of the evening was Hot Little Hands. Their set was ok and they did a good cover of "Rip It Up."

Next on the bill was The Basics, the main reason we attended the show. It was their first live gig in three months as Kris has been overseas. They didn't sound too rusty as they played a few newly written songs as well as "Just Hold On," "Money (Gimme, Gimme)," "Like A Brother," and their new single "With This Ship." It was great to see them again and hear those sweet harmonies. We are eager for the new album to come out but it appears that they are still recording some more songs. When they finished their set Tash and Mary went over to Wally for a chat and to get pictures with him. I was good and refrained.

After a comical welcome to the evening and explanation of the auction items by Julia Zemiro of RocKwiz fame, The Pictures took to the stage. Lead by Davey Lane of You Am I, there set was full of classic Aussie rock sounding songs. I thought they played great and were very entertaining. After they were done we went upstairs to the rooftop to have some food, and then decided to head for home since we weren't that interested in the rest of the bands on the bill. Hopefully the evening raised a lot of money to help those affected by the bushfires.