The Black Lips
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The Black Lips - image courtesy of the band
First cab off the rank tonight was Steve Miller Band, not to be confused with Steve Miller Band from the USA (who formed in 1966) as my wife had done (she is from the USA and she was excited about seeing the space cowboy). Although she was somewhat disappointed initially, she enjoyed their set, as did I. There was an obvious connection between the members and they had the most upright drumming I have ever witnessed (in wickedly high heels to boot!) which made for fun times, with a six pack offered to any girls willing to jump up on stage and have a boogie, the night was off to great start (although I am not sure the dancing girls received the promised beer).
Next up were The Frowning Clouds. I like these guys, but unfortunately tonight the sound was not on their side. The vocals were mostly washed out and even when I knew the words I had trouble understanding them. I don’t know if it is my old age, but, I do like hearing what a band has to say. However, I am not deterred and will see them again.
Next up were The Frowning Clouds. I like these guys, but unfortunately tonight the sound was not on their side. The vocals were mostly washed out and even when I knew the words I had trouble understanding them. I don’t know if it is my old age, but, I do like hearing what a band has to say. However, I am not deterred and will see them again.
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Finally it was time for the main act. The crowd was pretty darn relaxed before The Black Lips hit the stage - plenty of chatting, checking of phones and conserving of energy - by that I mean the customary practice at The Hi-Fi of sitting on the steps and yep I was one of them. The Black Lips describe their music as flower punk (or the more colourful descriptions via their twitter feed where they describe themselves as the redneck Ramones or the gay Lynyrd Skynyrd). Whatever the pigeon hole they get slotted into, the fact is that they have been at it for over 15 years and with the reintroduction of guitarist Jack Hines after a 10 year hiatus, the throng of people gathered at the Hi-Fi started getting toey 5 minutes before the Atlanta band were due onstage for their Falls Festival sideshow (just a small aside, but hats off to the bands and the Hi-Fi for starting on time). When they hit (10pm on the dot), it was like a mini tornado arrived and whipped up the floor into a frenzy of flying beer cans, crowd surfing and shirt ripping that did not stop till the end. In their early days they were known for their onstage antics (vomiting, urination and nudity among others), but apparently that was just to distract the audience from their inability to play their instruments. There were no such antics tonight (with the exception of guitarist/vocalist Cole Alexander’s spiting-in-the-air-and-catching-it-in-his-mouth manoeuvre, which strangely/disturbingly had one girl swooning). Instead there were just four guys who now know how to play their instruments well and command a stage.
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Jared Swilley photo by Steveie B, courtesy of Faster Louder
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The set drew heavily from their most recent album Underneath the Rainbow which was co-produced by The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney and their 2011 release Arabia Mountain produced by Mark Ronson. With vocals shared between guitarist Cole Alexander, bassist Jared Swilley and drummer Joe Bradley, the band was able to maintain a frantic pace and with songs that mostly clock in at the 2-3 minute mark they were able to squeeze in all the songs you wanted to hear and more. A personal highlight was “Family Tree”, the clip for which upset officials in the Middle East and almost affected their tour there which was captured in the music documentary Kids Like You & Me. The crowd’s highlight seemed to be the flat out punk hit “Bad Kids” (used in the 2009 movie 500 Days of Summer) with multiple people surfing the mosh pit, shirts getting torn off, security being goaded and beer flying everywhere, much to the band’s delight.
The night concluded after a brief two song encore, by which stage both the band and the audience were happily exhausted. As I ascended the stairs behind two shirtless guys into the warm Melbourne night, I wished more of my Tuesday nights were this much fun. Kade Mills |