I don’t know if any of you remember the events around Australia back in 2009 as part of University O Week Celebrations. It was called “The Big O Tour” and saw The Music and The Fratellis top a mighty impressive bill that toured the East Coast of Australia with five shows. You can reflect on my experiences at the Manning show HERE. A great night, but I swear something bad was in the water…
Not long after the shows, The Fratellis went on indefinite hiatus and within two years, The Music were playing their final shows, Australian band Yves Klein Blue had done the same and we’re not too sure about the future of our friends Cassette Kids. Thankfully, one band has returned from the brink, performing their first shows in the country since that fateful O Tour. That band, as you have probably guessed by the title of this article, are The Fratellis.
But first up were Sydney five piece Jenny Broke The Window, who have been getting a lot of love from triple j presenters and finding themselves slowly moving up in the world – this support slot being no exception. The band trade in their own version of British indie-pop; though with lead vocalist Sam Lathlean donning an Akubra, there’s no sense they’re trying to be anything they’re not… they’re just wearing their influences on their sleeve, and that’s rarely a bad thing.
The group were energetic, embarking on a musical trip into a world that was equal parts dancable and rocky, in that great Bloc Party kind of way. They even utilise both a drummer and a percussionist to add an extra “oomph”. Nice touch to the live element, that’s for sure. Closing with single “Rum n Cola”, they left the stage on a great note. I doubt this is the last we’ll be hearing from them (luckily this wasn’t an O Week Tour!) and the group served as a perfect support to the Scottish rockers.
Said Scottish rockers, The Fratellis, emerged to a huge applause from a mixed crowd (by any standards) eager to see the band in their first visit to our shores since 2009. They wasted no timing jumping straight into “This Old Ghost Town” and the popular “Flathead”, which got the crowd moving early and chanting their “baa baa baas”! Something this band is very apt at getting their fans to do with little effort. The music just invites it! It was good to see the band get into an early jam during this number, too.
“Halloween Blues” was next and showed off some amazing drumming and guitar moments from the boys, reminding us that yes, indeed, Jon can shred! The rest of the set was essentially half the now classic Costello Music and half the more recent We Need Medicine, with a couple tracks from Here We Stand and a Dion cover thrown in for good measure. Though it was natural that the music off Costello was the best received, with singalongs for all of the 9 tracks that made appearances, it was good to see so many fans knowing the words to the newer material, too.
There are quite a few gems in there, particularly “Seven Nights Seven Days”, “Until She Saves My Soul”, which ended the main set, the mentioned “Halloween Blues” and “She’s Not Gone Yet But She’s Leaving”, which could have been a part of the Steve Miller Band repertoire. Or am I the only one that hears “Abracadabra” in there?
As the band disappeared for the encore, the crowd chanted in unison with the singalong for “Chelsea Dagger” – the bands most endearing track and the one that everyone in the crowd wants to hear. And with good reason. They saved it for the third of four tracks in the encore, however, kicking things off with “All The Long Live Day”, a brand new track, which was reminiscent of a slowed down version of “Halloween Blues”, played earlier. And the Dion cover mentioned, “Runaround Sue” was superb. But, naturally, it was “Dagger” that left the lasting impression, though “A Heady Tale” had the honours of closing the night out.
Though I daresay the band didn’t play with the same ferocity I remember from our past encounters, I could just put that down to being a Sunday night. For any band, a tough night to play, but if anyone could get the crowd moving and chanting it was them – and indeed, they had the crowd doing just that all night long. A fratelli-tastic* way to end my weekend, sharing it with two excellent bands. Here’s hoping the “O Tour” curse remains beaten.
SETLIST:
This Old Ghost Town
Flathead
Halloween Blues
Vince The Loveable Stoner
Lupe Brown
Cuntry Boys & City Girls
She’s Not Gone Yet But She’s Leaving
Whistle For The Choir
For The Girl
Shotgun Shoes
Seven Nights Seven Days
Babydoll
Henrietta
Jeannie Nitro
This Is Not the End of the World
Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night
Baby Fratelli
We Need Medicine
Until She Saves My Soul
Encore:
All the Long Live Day
Runaround Sue (Dion cover)
Chelsea Dagger
A Heady Tale
*I make no apologies for that.
