The D4 at the Tote
15 February 2025 in Melbourne, supported by Mach Pelican, The Stripp and Raging Hormones.
My friend Ange was into The D4 when she lived in New Zealand 20 years ago. I had no idea who they were and neither did the husbinator. But, we are yeppers, and we like live music. So we said yep let's go.
As it turned out, Ange had a nasty cold and couldn't go. Bummer! We gave her spare ticket to the lucky punter who walked into the back bandroom right after us and he returned the favour by buying us a beer each.
The first two bands Raging Hormones and The Stripp were fun. They are both high energy, good time, rock-and-roll party bands that I would happily see again, but probably not enough of my thing to seek out specifically.
(Honestly it feels a bit unnecessarily negative to say that but I do want this blog to be a record of things I've seen, given that I have already forgotten so much, so I have to say something, right?)
Mach Pelican I am pretty sure I've never seen before which is odd considering that they were based in Perth in 1996-98. I was there and seeing a lot of live local music at that time. They play super fun Ramones-style punk and I enjoyed the heck out of them.
The D4 attract a funny crowd. It reminded me a bit of a Mark of Cain crowd: older, suburban-looking blokes, a bit rough around the edges. This is a good formula for a room full of people joyously letting off energy in peculiarly masculine ways. Dudes pushing 50 or 60 whose slam-dancing antics are going to have repercussions. It's good energy to be around.
This type of crowd is also a tall crowd. I am very not tall. There were some utterly enormous bastards out there, I tell you. At one point this bloke stood in front of me and when he turned around I must have given him my most withering look. He moved out of my way without hesitation (and cheerfully chatted with me the rest of the night).
The D4 themselves were fucking great. There is something special about seeing a band you have zero familiarity with but that instantly infect you with their energy. I really wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much.
My only regret is not taking a decent photo. My crappy Oppo phone camera really doesn't cut it for situations like these but I'm not sure I'm ready to become the serious girl with camera at gigs just yet.
