Mad Caddies / Unpaid Debt / Dr. Octopus
live in Sydney (2004)
"How were the band? They were okay. Not great, but pretty good. They played the songs I knew they would. Some old, some new, the same formula stays true."
Okay that's not even a Mad Caddies song, but I felt it applied.
Sure they played every song the crowd wanted 'Weird Beard' 'Road Rash' 'Monkeys', a couple of tracks of their latest album, and many in between but something was missing.
The night opened when Dr. Octopus took the stage. Doc Ock are a band from up the coast, who have scored the support spot on the Caddies Oz tour. Apparently their bigger in the US than they are downunder. They did what they came to do, get the crowd in a bit of a skank before the main set.
They got the crowd going better than the second act, but their female lead singer backed by six band members was a little too Save Ferris for everybody's liking.
Next on stage were local lads Unpaid Debt. Unpaid Debt did what Unpaid Debt always do which is pretend to be a popular US Pop/Punk band, which they're not. They're four local boys who play fast punk, which isn't particularly good.
The Unpaid Debt boys, most of whom look about fifteen, attempted witty banter between songs, which was only met with a few 'Fuck Off You Wankers!' from the pit.
The Mad Caddies came on soon after. The Gaelic Club wasn't anywhere near as packed as it usually is, but it seemed like most people in the place stormed the stage and took to the mosh pit. The Caddies started up and played what everybody expected them to play.
It was okay. Their fans loved them, but would have loved them anyway. There were more stage divers than I've seen at any show ever. The divers seemed to have a blast, the one poor security gaurd who had to keep running on stage to drag them off didn't have nearly as much fun.
Poor guy. The Caddies were energitic, upbeat and any other cliched expression you can use to describe a live set. But they weren't special.
Although I did buy a t-shirt. But only cause I needed a new t-shirt.