We Like To Party Like It's 1999!

The Vengaboys (11/01/2012)

Live at The Hi-Fi, Brisbane.

Supported by: The Herbs

Review by Jo Michelmore


Wednesday night. It's the middle of the week. Nothing special, right? Not my Wednesday. Mine involved sequins and feathers and dancing and sequins and big hair and bouncing and sequins and pop. My Wednesday night involved The Vengaboys.

The audience was a strange bunch, involving almost every facet of society; the young, fashionable, old, unfashionable, boys in girls clothes, girls in boys clothes, the emo, the filthy hippy, the boring and the interesting, the attractive and not so attractive. Everyone except maybe your hipster, but they weren't needed anyway. This was a prime example of pop music transcending almost all parts of society.


The smile on my face started as soon as I entered the venue. What was that sound? Could it be? Was that really the Backstreet Boys causing that much noise and excitement? It was. Every song a pure pop classic, the DJ warming up the crowd had them all in the palm of her hand. All the best pop, from the Fresh Prince to Beyonce, Janet Jackson to Outkast, the punters squealed with delight at the start of every song and they danced and danced and danced and yes, they danced.

The squealing and dancing was interrupted for a little while by the support band 'The Herbs' (a Spice Girls cover band) who confused us all with strange versions of previously catchy Spice Girls songs. It was ok though, it gave most a chance to update their Facebook status and the audience were so enthused a tiny little boredom didn't seem to matter. It had been 14 years waiting for the Vengabus so no one was going to miss the fun.


The four people that are The Vengaboys exploded onto the stage in a manner only old Eurodance pop acts can. One pink and silver cowboy, one green and purple feathered ensemble, one sequined sailor and one red space girl. They danced their way through forty minutes of the cheesiest, trashiest, greatest Europop this side of the 80's. I thought I only knew two songs, but three or four were familiar and the rest were so bouncy it didn't matter anyway. It was like watching a real life version of lip synching cartoon characters auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance. Of course, the best songs and biggest reactions were for 'Boom Boom Boom Boom' and 'We Like To Party' but even the slightly lesser known 'Sex On The Beach' and 'Rocket To Uranus' (yes, they're a party act) managed to keep the crowd singing along (proof pop music is a) easy to get and b) hard to hate). The back catalogue is so shallow almost everything sounded the same, but no one cared, including me. This bus is not likely to pass by again anytime soon so I would have been happy to dance to the same two songs over and over for 40 minutes.

Only The Vengaboys could bring a little part of all the greatest parts of trash pop to an audience so successfully, especially midweek. Wednesday night has a lot to live up to, I don't think it will ever be the same again.


Thank you Vengabus for visiting! You and your boys certainly do like to party.