Happy Birthday The Triffid: John 'JC' Collins Names His Top Five Gigs

The Delta Riggs - November 2014

The first one that comes to mind is The Delta Riggs back in November 2014. We had been open for about three weeks and it was the first time a band had sold out The Triffid. It was that first real experience of saying, 'This is awesome, this is gonna be great.’ The Riggs were getting a lot of airplay on triple j and they were a really good rock’n’roll band. The room just had a really great vibe, it was their largest show of the tour. So that was an encouraging way to start the life of a new venue.

Sunnyboys with The Riptides - March 2015

The next one that comes to mind is the Sunnyboys double bill with The Riptides. I'd grown up listening to the Sunnyboys which is one of the reasons Hoggy [Ian Haug] and I became mates - we started talking about the Sunnyboys at school. I grew up with this band so it was a special feeling to have them perform at our venue. The great thing was even though they were a band predominantly from the ‘80s, they weren’t jaded because they'd had a really long break of 20 years so it still felt fresh. 

Goat with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - December 2015

I didn't really know much about Goat but I did know about King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Goat were new to me but what a mesmerising show with the singers wearing face masks with feathers. This was the first time seeing King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and they were just awesome. There's nothing else to say, they're just awesome and so unique. A very cool show, I loved it.

Bernard Fanning - October 2017

I couldn't do this without mentioning one of my old bandmates. It was pretty hard to choose because Darren [Middleton], Hoggy and Bernard [Fanning] have all played here in some capacity... but I'll give it to Bernard. He played four shows here in a row and got his name up on The Triffid Honour Board. It was great to see that the 20 years of touring together had paid off, he nailed these shows. Bernard also asked his fans to choose where they wanted to see his next tour, it was very pleasing to see The Triffid voted by his fans for the Brisbane shows. I did cop a bit of shit over the microphone on one night I wasn’t there (fair enough). 

WAAX - September 2019 

The last one I would say is WAAX. There have been so many great performances by the new brigade of young Brisbane artists but WAAX are on fire at the moment and you've got to have a new Brisbane band in the top five. Their recent tour sold out three Triffid shows which also gave them the place on The Triffid Honour Board. What a great rock’n’roll band.  

The Triffid’s 5th Birthday Party featuring You Am I and Jebediah is on 14 Nov.