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Hudson Lowboy were giving the PA a good warm-up when we entered the already packed Arena. I must plead ignorance when it comes to knowledge of their work, but they delivered a solid set of hook-laden power pop - a little bit Jebediah, a little bit You Am I, and quite entertaining without being anything spectacular.
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Magic Dirt's intro music (featuring Kyuss, Queens Of The Stone Age and UNKLE among other notables) had me literally salivating by the time they hit the stage, and the Dirt proved that despite their new, slightly more accessible sound, they can still rock out with the best of them. In fact, on the evidence of tonight's dynamite set, rumours of Adalita and Co's retreat into the world of pop would appear to be slightly exaggerated. The new single "Dirty Jeans" is admittedly a catchy little ditty, but since when has a having a big chorus been a bad thing? Otherwise, it's business as usual, with tracks like "City Trash", "Teenage Vampire" and "Competition Girl" off the new album What Are Rock Star's Doing Today? grinding out riff after riff of punk rock power at volumes which severely tested some of the Magic Dirt virgins in the crowd. |
| It was good to see that the sonic noise explorations which coloured their Friends In Danger era haven't been abandoned altogether - at one stage Adalita and lead guitarist Raul huddled busily over their effects pedals twiddling knobs and upping the feedback quotient, while bassist Dean (clear winner in the Infectious Stage Presence stakes for the evening) kept a solid groove going with Adam on the drums, before they slowly built the tempo to a crescendo which launched into one of the new songs in inspired fashion. "She-Riff" was there in all it's glory for the old fans (though the classic "Ice" was sadly absent), and Magic Dirt certainly will win some new ones over the course of this tour if tonight was any indication. |
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The Arena had packed to sardine tin like proportions as the Powderfinger faithful waited anxiously for the arrival of their heroes. In keeping with the theme of their Odyssey Number Five opus, Richard Strauss's monumental "Thus Spake Zarathustra" thundered through the venue as the lights went down, and when the lads (with guest keyboard player Matt Murphy in tow) finally strode on stage, the screams were so loud that they almost drowned out the opening notes of "Waiting For The Sun". When golden-tonsilled vocalist Bernard Fanning took to the microphone with the delicate opening salvo "This will be an uncertain time for us, my love.....", a 2000-strong chorus joined him for every word. From the opening moments, the agenda was clear - this was going to be a singalong, and it was going to be a bloody loud one. |
| "Celebrity Head" and "Don't Wanna Be Left Out" from Internationalist followed in quick succession, with the lads obviously keen to show their fans that they can still pump out the up-tempo numbers alongside the newer, more restrained tunes. Bassist John Collins and guitar-whiz Darren Middleton were clearly pumped to be playing in front of their home crowd again, with Darren attacking his guitar from the outset and JC adopting his trademark (though suspiciously reminiscent of Ben Sheppard from Soundgarden) doubled over bass-playing style early in the piece. Skinsman Coggsy was a model of restraint (a far cry from the Parables days), as was Ian Haug, churning out the big lead lines and tasteful licks with little fanfare, while Matt Murphy's keyboard parts filled out the sound perfectly (especially on Odyssey's closing tracks "Whatever Makes You Happy" and "Thrilloilogy") without ever taking centre stage. |
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But like all great vocalists, this was Bernard Fanning's show, and the huge crowd was with him all the way - they pogoed to "Belter" and the biting anti-Liberal rant of "Like A Dog", they swayed slowly to "Odyssey #5" and "The Day You Come", and when it came to the big singalong numbers, they carried the band away with them in overwhelming fashion. "My Happiness", "My Kind Of Scene", "D.A.F." and "These Days" had all-and-sundry in full voice, and even those of us who still remember the early days of complex riffery and odd time signatures couldn't help but get swept up in the emotion of it all.
For Powderfinger, every set is like a Greatest Hits collection, to the extent that there is no longer room for "Pick You Up", the song that broke them into the mainstream. Tonight, they proved that they have the talent to take their songs to the rest of the world - with a little luck, they won't be Australia's best-kept secret any longer.
~ Kris Swales ~
Click Here for more Pictures of Powderfinger and Magic Dirt |
