Philadelphia Grand Jury - Neverland Bar, Coolangatta

We have been putting off writing this gig review, simply because we don’t know where to start. This show was the cat that got our tongue and we shall do our best to depict the antics of the night. But you’ll have to bear with us – it’s a kind of craziness you need to witness yourself and not relive through a review.

We began the night on the back foot – hung over with Sunday seediness, dead on our feet and generally not keen to drag our sorry selves outta bed. However, the Philly J’s were the perfect ‘pick me up’. Kicking off with their first song ‘The Good News’ these guys soon had us bouncing off the walls and into a state of rock happiness.

The indie rockers that stood before us didn’t quite fit the image we previously had in our minds. Looking like they were thrown together from three random walks of life, these guys are hard to explain. Berkfinger could well be your typical IT wiz-nerd. The kinda guy who can hack into the main frame and decode a cookie whilst eating a curried egg sandwich. On the other hand, MC Bad Genius looked like he’d just stepped out of the dusty pages of the Old Testament. With his fuck-off beard and top-buttoned dress shirt, this guy had us all convinced he was an Eastern Suburbs Jew, rather than a talented musician. To top off the ‘what-the-heck-appearance’ these guys had an athletic looking grey-haired drummer. Ahhh what? How did this extreme combo meet, let alone manage to play such incredible music?

Between songs, a creepy high-pitched chipmunk voice provided small talk and song introductions. We’re torn as to whether it sounded more like Dickie from Hey Hey it’s Saturday or Australia’s nasal-ist man Rodney Rude. Either way it had the crowd in fits of laughter and just a pre-cursor for the antics each song was to bring.

During the happy-clappy-ness of ‘I’m going to kill you’, Berkfinger managed to deep throat his entire microphone whilst still magnificently hitting every note. This party trick had us open-mouthed and begging for more.

The proximity of stage to crowd was one that encouraged intimacy and tomfoolery between the Philly J’s and the Neverland mob. The epitome of such tomfoolery occurred when Berkfinger invited all musically talented people to come onstage for a jam. After he and Berkfinger handed their guitars over to members of the crowd, MC Bad Genius left the stage and parted the audience similar to Mozart did the Red Sea. Whilst attempting to stretch the mic cord as far as it could go, he and his front man became tangled, strangled and mangled amongst both the cord and the crowd.

The highlight of this gig however was the drastic breakdown of the six-piece drum kit halfway through ‘Going To The Casino’. Berkfinger thought it necessary to confiscate each piece of the drum kit one by one. He placed them on the dance floor amongst the crowd leaving the poor drummer with only the snare left. But this didn’t stop his happy-go-lucky attitude and he continued to play whilst piecing his drum kit back together. Yes you can imagine, shit was happening everywhere and we didn’t know where to look.

To help explain what this gig was like we want you to picture a badass classroom from the Bronx – kids hanging off the fan, jumping from desk to desk and running amok. Amongst this chaos we felt like a teacher trying to find control but instead lost all hope and could only dance. 

The energetic vibe brought to the stage by the Philly J’s is one that ensured it to be the best live gig we’ve ever been to. Big call we know, but trust us – shit got loose and we walked outta there in amazement. This gig needs to be added to the 10 things to do before you die list and if you haven’t seen them live yet then get your act together – The Philly J’s will not disappoint!

Katie Duncan and Sophie Robinson.