This second show by Laura Imbruglia, Adam Harding (and friends) and Sebadoh wasn’t highly publicized, and this meant punters had rare elbowroom. Some mistakenly believed that this was due to the night’s talent not being worth seeing, but the punters who attended gave every impression that they were enjoying themselves. Probably the fact that it wasn’t a sellout was more due to it being a Monday night and the second show. The Corner staff indicated that the Sunday show was well attended.

Laura Imbruglia has been performing for a legitimate amount of time now, and she has developed a fair amount of material. Described as an indie rock artist, her path has diverged from the one sister Natalie took (Natalie was more mainstream), though I believe the Imbruglia name would sometimes be a curse. People who don’t know Laura might expect the Imbruglia sisters to be a pigeon pair, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Laura Imbruglia’s music certainly can’t be described as mainstream, and the fact that she was chosen to support Sebadoh attests to this. She is headlining her own shows later this year, and promoting her new single “Why’d you have to kiss me so hard?” which is a quirky song title for a young woman with a different musical perspective.

Most of you would know Adam Harding as a filmmaker rather than a songster. There must be something in the water in Geelong, for they produce a fair amount of talented folk, and Harding is no exception. He has worked on the periphery of the music industry for quite a while, making music videos, but being in front of the camera fronting his own band is something he also enjoys. On this night he was joined on stage by Dane Certificate (Drums) and Steve from Useless Children. Their grunge sound, which bordered on heavy rock, delighted those punters who were looking for a true retro 90’s experience. Comments weren’t always positive however, with a few people saying that their stuff wasn’t original enough to keep them interested. Harding and Co have collaborated a number of times on various projects and this familiarity showed in the way the guys seamlessly worked the gig.

You couldn’t actually say that Sebadoh’s set was seamless though it had a number of great things going for it. Lou Barlow has mellowed over the years, and seems to have lost that grumpy arrogance that made earlier shows uncomfortable to the point of embarrassment. Maybe now he has shaken off the competitive shackles that were part of the mix when he was originally in Dinosaur Jnr, he can finally relax and enjoy himself.

When you see a Sebadoh gig, you actually get two shows in one. Barlow and Loewenstein are like yin and yang with the former having a mellow folksy sound and Loewenstein having a voice that would not sound out of place in a death metal band. The instrument malfunctions gave the band a chance to connect with the crowd. The banter was entertaining, though the gig was much longer because of it. If they weren’t so good when they finally did play the songs, the room would have emptied for sure.

At one point, a problem with a snare drum saw D’Amico leave the stage. It was a good 10 minutes before he returned, by which time we were thinking ‘WTF is going on?’ Most songs came off the ‘Bakesale’ and ‘Harmacy’ albums, which accounts for the name of the tour. “Brand New Love” and “Skull” were the highlights for me, though I was a tad miffed that they didn’t throw in “Flame” just for old times sake. Only Sebadoh could pull off such a gig…technically it was a dud, but the way they somehow pulled together their lo-fi 90’s slacker rock sound to compensate for all the stuffing about, was nothing short of miraculous.

It was a true ‘experience’ to remember.