They’ve still got it.
We went to see one of my all time favourite bands last night.
GANGgajang was playing a free concert beside the Swan River in Victoria Park as the sun was going down so we packed the family in the car, grabbed some food on the way, and had a picnic while listening to the guys performing.
The band formed in the mid eighties and I had the pleasure of seeing them live several times during their early years. Back then they had a string of hits like “Gimme Some Lovin”, “House of Cards”, and the Aussie classic, “Sounds of Then (This is Australia)”.
The thing that always struck me about the band was that they had such a good time on stage. You didn’t just go to their concert to enjoy some great music, you went there to be part of the fun. There was no posturing, falseness or grandstanding, just a group of people having the time of their life and inviting you to be part of it all. They were enjoying themselves so much on stage that you didn’t want to just see the band you wanted to be the band.
The guys are a little older these days (I guess I am too) but they can still play and their performances are still absolutely infectious. You can’t help but smile at a GANGgajang concert.
There was some very entertaining banter between the band members during their performance and ‘Cal’ Callaghan even left the stage and joined the kids dancing in front of the stage for a while. One of the real highlights for me was seeing original band member, Kayellen Bee, join the guys on stage for a couple of songs.
By the way, if you’re not a GANGgajang fan, you probably won’t realise that the title of this post, “Uplifting moments of emotion”, is a line from their song “Giver of Life”. The song is about the power of music. I can assure you that as I was transported back to my twenties by the music last night I experienced several uplifting moments of emotion and it was such a delight to be able to share part of what made me who I am today with my kids. (Don’t tell anyone but I even got up and danced with Emily for the final song, House of Cards.)
Do you have songs that can take you back to your younger days? Have you been able to see a recent performance by a band or artist that was big when you were young? Did they still measure up? Did it bring the memories flooding back? Have you been able to share your favourite music with your kids?
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: GANGgajang – Music – Family
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sounds like fun for you!
and i have many bands/groups i like from the olden days (thanks for the bday greetings, by the way) … with youtube i am a click away from memories!
What a fabulous afternoon, makes me pine for summer!
The year before last I took my two sons to see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, they were stunning; but I was privileged to see James Brown support them. His performance was a bit formulaic but the hits were still there and it is quite good to be able to tell people I saw him .
V and I also went to see Al Green, her hero, last summer; now that was a performance that took us back, what a guy!
Love GANGgajang