Photo – Jonty Carlin

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I rate the Queen for so many reasons: her love of corgis, her dope representation of female power, and the fact that her (fake) birthday gives me a three-day weekend! So instead of spending my Sunday on the couch with a hot choccie, I hit up the Cambridge Hotel to attend their much-anticipated Long Weekend Party, featuring Northeast Party House, WAAX, Antonia & the Lazy Susans and Newcastle band dave. The only real downfall of the night was that Liz wasn’t there partying with us, but other than that it was a great evening with good friends and grouse music.

Opening the party was local dudes dave. Their surfy alt-indie sound encouraged show-goers to move away from the main bar and trickle into the room, most of them bopping and nodding with drinks in hand. These guys have a pretty great rep in Newy, and they definitely didn’t hold back, setting a very decent standard for the acts that ensued. I was also keen on their chill yet groovy demeanour, which worked well with their fantastically raw Bangers (vol.1).

Then we had Antonia & the Lazy Susans hop on stage. This indie four-piece took command of the room pretty quickly, smashing out their rocky tunes with oodles of confidence. Antonia’s voice was a bellowing success, with her severely Aussie tones giving off a Camp Cope-esque vibe, and correlating nicely with the deeper backing vocals. Their movements on stage were pretty minimal, but it was ok because most of their songs were about super emotional topics, so I probably wouldn’t be dancing either. The crowd was really digging the angsty atmosphere though, and the band left the stage to a big ol’ cheer!

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WAAX // Jonty Carlin Photography

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After a short intermission, Brissie kids WAAX stormed the room. And let me bloody tell you; WAAX went on, and WAAX went OFF. These guys were my absolute favourite set of the night, tearing apart the floor with their harsh, grungy songs and almost terrifying stage presence. Main vocalist Maz was somethin’ else; jerking limbs, savage facial expressions, hair going absolutely bonkers. I mean she was pretty much just a musically gifted version of that weird haunted chick from The Ring. Loved it.

A couple of circle pits appeared and disappeared with equal vigour (the secos were very efficient unfortunately), but the audience continued to whip their heads around wonderfully. The band closed with their current banger, ‘Labrador’, and I truly almost enjoyed the song more than I enjoy real, four-pawed Labradors. So overall, a killer performance.

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Northeast Party House // Jonty Carlin Photography

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I was still hyperventilating from the previous set when a gigantic cheer signalled the entrance of Northeast Party House. The room was completely packed by this point, and it wasn’t long before everyone was shaking their butts to the electro-rock beats. Front man Zach was making luurrvv to that mic, blessing every earhole with his velvety voice. The drum sounds were equally groovy, and the high-held bass was funking the crap outta me.

The percussion was one of the best elements of the entire set, with most of the band members donning tambourines throughout various songs. Also, in case you didn’t know, my favourite form of beef (other than a garlic-laden kebab) is actually copious amounts of hard-hitting cowbell. And let me tell you, I have absolutely met my beef requirement for the week, thanks to Northeast Party House.

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Northeast Party House // Jonty Carlin Photography

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They played all of their best bangers, including my personal favourite ‘The Haunted’, which opened up a floodgate of very embarrassing dance moves on my behalf. Northeast also whipped out their tropical tune, ‘Calypso Beach’, encouraging even more outlandish dance moves from the people around me. Somewhere in the middle of the performance they did a really cool rendition of Blur’s popular singalong ‘Song 2’, and they finished up with their hectic summer tune ‘For You’. There were bodies pressed against bodies, bodies on the shoulders of bodies, so many crazy moving bodies, it was great.

The boys eventually walked off to a deafening roar from the crowd, indicating that they had indeed turned the Cambridge into a huge Party House. God bless the Queen and her fake day of birth!

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Check out Jonty Carlin’s gallery of this show HERE

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Connect with NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE!

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AMNPLIFY – DB