Cathy's report on the Bankstown Mall concert:

Well, who knew that a mini Tofog concert in an ordinary, busy urban shopping mall could be so much fun? We went because we could, with little expectation and more than a little giggling. What we got was an interesting, probably once in a lifetime experience of seeing this band in this type of ‘venue’.
 
The stage was set up in your typical open space that some malls have for events. A crowd gathered of every description imaginable, most just out on a Saturday to pick up groceries (many malls in Oz have what we know in the US as supermarkets) as well as other goods and services we all can purchase in our malls. Actually, all of us got some shopping in including the band!
 
We wondered if we would hear the now ingrained and familiar “Weather...” and as it came on we looked in front of us to the floor above and standing on the escalator that was in back of where the stage was set up, the band members of The Ordinary Fear of God came gliding down. Absu rdly enough, it was one of the coolest entrances I’ve ever seen them make!
 
They took the stage and did 6 songs:
 
Weight
How Did We Get...
Land
Raewyn
Worst
Testify
 
We stood at the front of the ‘balcony’ on the next floor up and I have to tell you the acoustics where great! The atrium ceiling must have worked wonders for the sound. Although intent on doing what they needed to do, the guys seemed to enjoy their brief time on stage. As the band did their thing, Russell smiled and waved at the kids and the surprised people who he could see through the gaps in the stage banners as they come down the escalator. I would say there were probably at least 200/300 or so who heard the music. Some people came wanting to see the band, some stumbled on it and some seem to come down from the alleys of the mall to see where all the noise was coming from. At my vantage point, I did notice that many of  those that arrived did stay for the duration of the short set.

After the concert those who bought a CD or T-shirt were told the band would stay and autograph it. True to that, all the boys, not just Russell, sat on stage at a table covered with a blue tablecloth and did the autograph thing. I do have to say that it was fun watching the whole band share that experience. There were many kids with parents and Russell and the guys seemed to enjoy a chance to interact with them.
 
We were standing behind the barricades and after the autograph line was finishing up who rushes by us but Chelsea and Bruno with CD in their hands wondering if the guys would even notice that it was them when it came their turn. It was cute to see the bands confused and amused reaction. At one point Russell looked up at us and loudly 'suggested' we buy some merchandise to get autographed. We laughed and gave him the ‘been there, done that’ look. At the end, Bones gathered up that blue tablecloth that they had b een scribbling on and tossed it to us as a keepsake. So the Centro Bankstown Mall is now missing one table covering!
 
Long story short, we may have went for the surreal experience of seeing Tofog playing a mall, but in the end we saw a game group of guys make the best of their day taking their music to people who most likely would never get a chance to hear it. They are a working band that in their lifetime have had an opportunity to play the at The Stone Pony as well as an obligation to play a mall in Bankstown. To my ear they have always given the best performance they could regardless of venue and I'm glad I got the chance to see them in both those widley divergent settings.