The Bangfam came together last night at City Hall to welcome our matriarchs, Myf Warhurst and Zan Rowe, to Newcastle for the local leg of the Bang On Live tour.
When the two national treasures took to the stage, the audience went absolutely wild – There was a sense that everyone wanted to give a standing ovation before the show had even started, but were all feeling a little too polite or maybe even a little starstruck.
Zan welcomed the audience and Myf (who is now an honourary Novacastrian after living here during the recent run of The Rocky Horror Show) fought back happy tears at the response from the almost sold-out crowd.
The night took to a similar format to their much loved and celebrated podcast by running the audience through some top-shelf pop culture goss.
They talked about rumours regarding Kate Middleton’s recent hospital stay as a grainy zoomed-in picture of Kate wearing sunglasses in an Audi projected behind them – Was it a Weekend at Bernies‘ situation or had she been off (as much of the internet suggested) for a cheeky BBL?
We heard about Queer Eye and the devastating news that the cast might not be as bubbly, welcoming and caring as they seem on the show – in particular JVN (which truly breaks our hearts).
Then it was time to meet our fellow Bangfamers as Myf and Zan led the audience in a ritual similar to the “peace be with you” moment of a Church service.
Introductions were made by turning to the people next to us and swapping lyrics from T-Rex’s Get It On and the enthralling Ricky Martin hit She Bangs.
Next up was the “How Bang Fam Are You” quiz with the audience invited to stand and answer questions with a possible A or B answer. Everyone indicated their answer by placing their hands on their head or their hips. – If you got the question wrong, you were asked to sit back down.
After the initial rounds, those who remained standing were asked to guess the price of the latest Louis Vuitton bag. There were guesses of a billion, forty thousand and a few hundred dollars. But the person with the closest answer ($7000) was crowned as The Most Bang Fam Member with a prestigious Bang On Live cotton tea towel (which Myf says will look fabulous framed).
The pair then moved to the moment many in the audience had been waiting for – Myf and Zan’s much-hyped hot take on the 2023 black comedy thriller, Saltburn – A movie which has been sensationalised for its boundary-pushing scenes and queer representation.
It soon becomes obvious that Myf and Zan weren’t on the same page when it came to the movie. Myf thought it was brilliant and admitted she’d thought about it a lot since first seeing it in the cinema. Zan, on the other hand, couldn’t connect with any of the characters and tought the whole thing was a massive pile of shit.
Their disagreement was just one example of the things that make their podcast so much fun to listen to. It’s a respectful, but fun, discussion with each of them dissecting the other’s views in a playful, yet insightful, way. Another success of the podcast, and the night, is Myf and Zan’s ability to make heavier topics accessible. Being the eve of International Women’s Day, there is talk about women in the music industry, how much has changed over the year, and how much hasn’t.
Another highlight of the show was the night’s special guest (there’s a different guest for each leg of the tour). Tonight, Myf and Zan were joined by a new resident to Newcastle – Australian comedian and writer, Luke McGregor.
Luke kicks off his guest spot by reminding everyone that the last time he joined Myf and Zan on stage they discussed Dinosaur dicks. Something that he was hoping to rectify on stage in Newcastle. This time Luke lements a dilemma he’s having about a dream where he almost cheats on his partner but doesn’t – He’s not sure why he’s not getting any praise for his choice. He then tells everyone about the time a date took an interesting turn when the potential love interest gave him a printout of her STI screening results (which were negative).
Before the big finale, it’s time to Bang Back with Myf reading hot takes and questions submitted by audience members when they first arrived at the hall. One person wanted to know if you could ever own too many totes bags (apparently you can’t) and another wanted to know if the hosts would rather get a pap smear once a week or have a finger cut off their non-dominant hands.
The show concludes with an impromptu farshun show with Myf and Zan asking for 6 volunteers to come up on stage to model some DIY high farshun items including homemade versions of that $12000 Balenciaga skirt/towel, the Louis Vuitton lunch bag, that Pharrell Williams microscopic handbag and a pair of those big red MSCHF’s boots. The models strutted their stuff with so much confidence and style and we’re pretty sure there’ll be a rush on those red boots as a result.
After the show, Myf and Zan host a meet and greet in the foyer of City Hall with fans invited to take selfies and get merch, designed by Naarm (Melbourne) based artist Hana Katya, signed. The extremely gracious pair would have been there for at least an hour spending time meeting people, signing merch and receiving the occasional gifts.
Lots of fanclubs claim to be a family but the Bang Fam truly do have a familial energy. People in the audience seemed just as stoked to meet other fans as they were to meet their heroes. It was a pretty perfect way to spend International Women’s Day eve – in the wake of two incredibly inspirational women who have created an unbreakable community that spans states and even countries.
Get it on, bang the gong.
