If you never saw Spiderbait in the back room of a pub or at The Big Day Out did you even 90s? With the explosive power of Buy Me A Pony, thrashing its furious way to the no. 1 spot on Triple J’s Hottest 100 in 1996 Spiderbait and their seminal album Ivy & The Big Apples heralded the emergence of a golden era of Aussie indie music.

20 years down the track it would seem appropriate to revisit such a significant album but Spiderbait’s Kram (drums), Janet English (bass) and Damian Whitty (guitar) did us one better by offering the album in its entirety. For any Aussie rock fan this would have been a hard gig to pass up, especially with the tantalising prospect of hearing some songs live for the first time ever.

The fans were older but still fervent, and whilst it wasn’t a sellout, it hardly seemed to matter – no casual fans here. Support was given by The Tommyhawks, and The Love Junkies with the latter proving once again what a cracking live band they are.

Seeing the trio come out, still looking much like they did in the 1990s, was like greeting old friends. And when the band kicked it off with first song Chest Hair, there were good signs there was still fuel left in the tank. English’s voice still achingly saccharine then tried to find her way through Hot Water And Milk. For the first third of the show, the group occasionally struggled to have it all hitting the mark and it wasn’t until the extended intro of the furious Buy Me Pony was the first real punch landed. The anthem of a generation was obviously a huge highlight, with the crowd showing their appreciation.

Somewhat aware of not peaking too soon, Kram ever the front man from behind his drum kit mentioned that a lot of the songs they’d be playing tonight had never been played live which helped keep the audience in a state of anticipation since many knew what to be expecting from the track listing. When Fusion Rule The Earth with its double time drum part and laidback guitars was one of the new nuggets performed. A psychedelic trip with a smack of acid rock thrown in – it worked mostly but lacked the rolling flow of the album version.

Regardless the crowd seem happy enough to ignore any inconsistencies and the more Spiderbait played through Ivy the stronger they became, with English and Kram alternating between her punky feminine vocals, and his growling bravado. Undercutting it all was a feisty undercurrent of grungy guitars and powerful drums. Calypso, that song immortalised in teen movie history was required singing as was the following acoustic song Goin Off. Moving down the line Don’t Kill Napier, Conjunctivitis and Hey were pure 90s punk indie rock that was later counterweighted with the peppy Joyce’s Hut, but again stumbled due to vocal mix issues with Whitty voice getting lost

As they took a bow after the final song Driving Up The Ceiling, Spiderbait came back out to close out the night strong with a headbanging version of Fucken Awesome and Black Betty for encore. It’s no easy feat to have an entire album translate to a live performance with its need for ebb and flow, yet Spiderbait gave Ivy a lot of love, verifying again why they are known for their impressive gigs.