The boys from Bluejuice have decided to call it a day – but not before releasing one last record and putting on a final tour to farewell their beloved fans. The national tour, aptly named ‘Retrospectable’ has already covered half of the country, and the band is now set to travel up the east coast for the last leg of the tour, playing their final shows in the far north.

Wild and rowdy as ever, Bluejuice gave Melbourne a big metaphorical kiss goodbye last Friday night in a sold out Hi-Fi Bar performance.

In what seemed as much a circus show as it did a rock show, the band set out on to the stage to a thunderous roar from the already amped audience, adorned in fluorescent face and body paint, staying true to the custom of costume wear Bluejuice has become infamous for over the course of their career (think sweatbands, matching tracksuits, yellow jumpsuits and gold lycra leotards).

As the band said to the audience, the idea of the Retrospectable tour was all about giving the fans the opportunity to see Bluejuice play all of the old favourites live one last time, and that’s exactly what they did.

Over the course of the evening, the band smashed out old favourites from their three albums, Problems (2007), Head of the Hawk (2009) and Company (2011), all with untiring energy. The set list featured hits ‘SOS’, ‘Ain’t Telling the Truth’, ‘Head of the Hawk’, as well as their Triple J Like a Version cover of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Bluejuice show without crowd surfing, crowd walking a whole lot of jumping up and down, and of course a display of colourful language, for which on this particular night, there was plenty of from co-front man Jake Stone. In between songs, Stone got stuck into a couple of audience members who apparently weren’t far from starting a brawl. “Oi meathead and meathead, just come to some kind of meathead conclusion about it okay? It’s not that hard,” the singer said. “Oi dickhead, I’m talking to you,” Stone continued. “Just chill the f*** out!”

The final Melbourne show was everything Bluejuice fans could have hoped for. All the favourite songs and as energetic and entertaining as ever, we suspect there will be a few broken hearts over the fact that this band will soon cease to be.

A brilliant display of showmanship, the night was a testament to the reputation the band had based their 13-year long career on as not only musicians, but performers and entertainers as well.

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As for the concept of the farewell tour itself; it’s hard to argue whether it’s a shame that the band are ending their career, or, if it’s not in fact a stroke of genius.

Bluejuice are ending on a high and giving their fans one last opportunity to enjoy the unique experience that is their live shows, rather than fading off to nothing, or beating a dead horse when the fans have long since lost interest (which in this case is arguable, as selling out shows hardly suggests a decline in the fan base, although the band themselves say that since they’ve announced they’re breaking up, they’ve had more interest in years).

With their long list of achievements and their innumerable live shows and festival performances throughout the course of the bands life span has marked the Bluejuice name in Australian music history, and won’t soon be forgotten.

So to the last remaining members, Jake Stone, Stavros Yiannoukas, Jamie Cibej, and James Hauptmann, thanks for the memories!

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