In our lives, opportunities for truly great experiences are rarely more than fleeting. Eating a schnitzel parmegiana pizza, talking to a professional wrestler, drinking kava, watching a band say farewell at their peak. No words can explain the feeling, the experience, the memory. Part of growing up I guess is dealing with the fact that all things will one day disappear from existence, including ourselves. Don’t let these things pass you by, there has never been a better time than right now. The group of shivering punters standing outside the Crown & Sceptre Hotel were screaming this to me in their silence as they awaited entry. I felt so smug walking past people desperate to get inside to see bands I knew absolutely nothing about, except for their names.

This show had a buzz about it even before I neared the door. The drummer told me he was nervous for the first time ever. I was told of mobiles switched off to exclude the continual hassle of friends looking to weasel entry. No chance, this gig was packed, stacked and booked to capacity to send off a great Adelaide band.

Poetikool Justice brought out the big guns as the support act, blowing apart the room like the angry bastard children of Rage Against the Machine and the Beastie Boys. Within the first four songs PJ had changed genres as many times but was told the hard rock level was turned up in honour of A Tribe is Forming to ensure the crowd was a seething, sweaty mass of groovers by the time they hit the stage. The band then settled into a solid reggae vein that carried through the rest of the show, including the mid-song, on-stage, spliff-passing shenanigans. Poetikool Justice have an album coming out in December so if early Chilli Peppers playing reggae sounds like your thing, get onto these boys.

It seemed like the crowd was hanging back before A Tribe is Forming took the stage. The room was suddenly packed with the remainder of onlookers forced to peer through the windows at the beer garden. What struck me first about these guys was the trumpet. It is like cooking with the choicest freshest ingredient- crucial when you are serving quality. I know at it’s core the was hip-hop, but not as I knew it. Sure there were infectious beats, phat bass lines, scratched out samples and a funky groove rising from the depths of the soul, but there was something more. I’d have to put it down to the sense of humour and spirit that these guys were able to bring to the stage. Really, how can you not smile when a bunch of grown men are singing “Yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep yep, uh-huh, uh-huh?”

Without having seen them before, I can’t say how much is down to last gig partying and how much is the usual show. What I know is these guys had people with their arms in the air, bouncing like ping-pong balls, sending one bloke to the point of stage diving and driving the rest of the crowd to addiction to high-grade party music. As an experienced band they are tight and balanced, continually producing funk-filled, synergistic powerhouse songs. If I knew what these guys were really like before, I would not have left it so late.

I’d have to say that as a viewer it was unfortunate that the final songs descended into a thrash metal catharsis for them. But it begs the question, who is the final gig really for? The band or the audience? I’ve been a part of that scene and I still don’t feel qualified to pass judgement.

The gig was being filmed so if you missed the show, there could always be the chance to catch a glimpse on DVD. That said, if you missed A Tribe is Forming’s last show, then I hope you were already lucky enough to have seen one Adelaide’s great bands while you still had the chance.