Waking up in Geelong

On the Saturday night just gone I saw Architecture in Helsinki live at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre – not to be confused with [the design of buildings located in the capital city of Finland], Architecture in Helsinki is a Australian indie pop band.

I’ve seen the band play live a half dozen times before, but this time after turning up at the doors opening I stayed put during the opening acts, so I didn’t end up at the back of the crowd…

The size of the crowd has increased every time I have seen Architecture in Helsinki: it was only in May this year they played at the much smaller Hi-Fi Bar for the release of their album Moment Bends.

The gig before that was at Festival Hall in May 2009, as the opening act for The Presets. Back then Architecture in Helsinki’s newest track was That Beep which had hit some mainstream success – however I seem to be lacking photos from that gig

Before that in May 2008 was their Like It or Not tour at the Prince Bandroom in St Kilda.

Travelling back even further in time, April 2006 was the packed back room of the Northcote Social Club, with tracks from album In Case We Die.

April 2005 was a gig at the former Preston Hotel in Geelong: only a few dozen people turned up.

And the first time I saw Architecture in Helsinki live was in February 2005, where they played a free summer concert in Melbourne Flagstaff Gardens. Back then they had only released one album – Fingers Crossed – but they also played some tracks for their as-then-unreleased album In Case We Die.

That gig feels like such a long time ago, and given that some of the older kids in the front row of the concert might be old enough to legally get into a 18+ gig these days, it definitely is!

If a two hour long set wasn’t enough to make my day, the merchandise table had more in store after the show was over.

Have you ever tried to chase up eight band members for autographs after a gig – it’s bloody hard, but I somehow managed it! (and yes, that’s a vinyl record – you can’t squish that many squiggles onto one CD case)

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