On Friday night I saw the Hoodoo Gurus at Penrith RSL. It was a great night and a lot of fun (although I thought the support act sucked).
The set covered almost all the classics as well as some fan favourites:
“Whoopee Cushion”
“A Place in the Sun”
“In the Wild”
“Waking Up Tired”
“Death Defying” (may have been played later—see below)
“You Open My Eyes”
“Tojo”
“Quicksand”
“California”
“Axegrinder”
“Leilani”
“I See You”
“Bittersweet”
“Come Anytime”
“Miss Freelove ‘69″
“1000 Miles Away”
“What’s My Scene?”
“The Right Time”
“Kamikaze Pilot”
Encore:
“My Girl”
“Like Wow - Wipeout”
Dave Faulkner and Brad Shepherd had a good banter going, including one moment where Dave accidentally introduced “Death Defying” despite it not being on the setlist, leading to a bonus song we wouldn’t have gotten otherwise!
I was right in front of the stage, and I swear, at one point Dave and Brad were within three feet of me. No kidding.
After the show, I had a brief chat with Rick Grossman (bass, also of Divinyls, Matt Finish and Ghostwriters fame)—great guy who is very down-to-earth despite having such an amazing career.
You can see select photos from the event in my Flickr set, but here’s four to give you an idea:
Last night I saw DEVO, performing for the first time in Sydney in over 25 years.
Yes, DEVO, that gang of subversive geeks willing to mock everything sacred about American (and, by extension, Western) culture—those Spuds who preach that de-evolution is REAL!
Now, it should be noted that Monica and I always stumble into adventures when we’re out together. Sometimes it involves meeting Marcia Hines at the Police concert; other times, it involves the wheelchair dying on Enmore Road. If nothing else, it’s always an… interesting experience, and this night was no exception.
Firstly, at Mon’s suggestion, we didn’t park where I had originally intended. This (as you’ll see later) was a bit of luck.
As soon as we arrived, we had dinner at Cine, an Italian cafe in the Entertainment Quarter (formerly the Fox Studios Backlot)—pleasant enough, though nothing fantastic. The staff were very nice, however.
When we arrived at the Hordern Pavilion for the show, I made a beeline for the merch stand. I picked up a T-shirt, a poster, and (yes!) an Energy Dome (which was another bit of luck, but… oh, I’ll tell you later).
Anyway, the show…
eddy current suppression ring were the first act, a kind of geeky punk/garage rock band from Melbourne. Very good and they fit in well.
After that, we went in search of COFFEE! Yes, even Spuds need caffeination now and then. Unfortunately, we found none, but some guy offered to buy my Energy Dome from Monica, since they were now apparently sold out!
Next up was Regurgitator with a very fun set. Not much more to say about that, really, but they seemed to be in awe of the fact that they were supporting “the best fucking band in the world!” Mon was heaving during “I Will Lick Your Arsehole”, however—I have no idea why.
Finally, it was time for some De-Evolution! After the intro video, they got straight into a great set that hit all the highlights, including Booji Boy performing “Beautiful World”!!!
The setlist, by memory:
“That’s Good”
“Going Under”
“Peek-a-Boo!”
“Girl U Want”
“Whip It”
“Secret Agent Man”
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
“Uncontrollable Urge”
“Mongoloid”
“Blockhead”
“Jocko Homo”
“Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA”
“Gates of Steel”
“Devo Corporate Anthem” (on video)
“Freedom of Choice”
“Gut Feeling”
“Beautiful World” (performed by Booji Boy)
I really was not expecting a Booji Boy appearance last night—it was bloody amazing.
The boys only played for about 75 minutes with no encore, but that has to be the best show I’ve seen so far. Seriously. I’ve been a Devo fan for many years, but this has pushed me into the “hardcore” territory.
(The Toto show is probably on par, actually, but Devo are still fresh in my mind…)
After the show, we got coffee (finally!) at Gloria Jeans. (It should be noted that Monica was basically holding me up with this coffeehouse expedition, possibly due to watching one too many episodes of Friends, though I did gladly go along with it because my Spud-sense told me there was good reason to….)
It wasn’t until about 50 minutes after the show that we were actually making our way back to the van—the spot Mon had chosen—when…
There they were! Devo were just leaving the Hordern. The two Bob’s were signing some fans’ stuff, so, of course, I had to stop and join in.
I had a chat with Bob 1 and got him to sign my poster and Energy Dome (through the fence, no less). Then I met Mark Mothersbaugh and he signed my Energy Dome, too! Yes, the Energy Dome that was already sought after before being signed by the Mothersbaugh boys.
So there you have it: Monica’s coffee-house dithering and parking eccentricities got me to meet Devo. How often can you say that???
Photos
Devo on stage
Booji Boy
Bob 1
Mark Mothersbaugh
UPDATE! Bonus (Bad) Bootleg Video (but not by me)
Secret Agent Man
Uncontrollable Urge
Mongoloid
Jocko Homo
UPDATE 2! John Larkin has a great overview of the same show here.
Here’s the photographic evidence that, yes, I did meet Toto…
Left to right: Greg Phillinganes (keyboards, vocals), Dion “Dee” Detterer (hanger-on, sunburn victim), Bobby Kimball (vocals)
(Note that Bobby’s wearing a VB T-shirt. Rock on!)
Left to right: Simon Phillips (drums), Steve “Luke” Lukather (guitar, vocals), Dion Detterer (long-distance backing vocals)
Thanks again to Greg, Bobby, Simon and Luke for hanging out with me and thanks also to John for sending me the photos. You guys are all very special and I’ll never forget your kindness.
Tonight I saw Toto live, and it was the best show I’ve ever seen. Roger Waters was stirring and The Police were thrilling, but Toto were just out of this world. Great songcraft, amazing instrumental passages and the best fucking guitar solo I’ve ever seen or heard, live or not. It’d make a fan out of anyone.
Firstly, the restaurant, African Feeling, was fantastic — great food and friendly, accommodating service — but I’ll detail that another time.
Instead, let me talk about the show. Bobby Kimball’s voice is as strong as ever, Simon Phillips is an amazing drummer whose technique and abilities are extraordinary (though of course he’ll never truly replace Jeff Porcaro) and Greg Phillinganes is so exciting to watch, particularly because I still consider myself a pianist deep down.
But holy shit, Steve Lukather is just a dead-set fucking legend. His guitar chops are so far beyond the realm of mere mortals that it’s hard to comprehend what you’re actually witnessing. I mean, I can’t even begin to express it all in words.
They did, of course, play “Rosanna”, and the encore had to be “Africa”, but the show stopper (in terms of big hits) was “Hold the Line”. For a band that most people think of as being merely soft rock, these guys rocked harder than anyone would ever dream.
And then I met them after the show.
They were all wonderfully nice, spending good quality time with my friends and I, but Steve (”Luke”) in particular hung around for some real bonding. Yes, folks, I had some swigs from Steve’s beer. They’re all great guys.
If that’s not enough, I bumped into Tim Farriss from INXS as well.
They opened with “Message in a Bottle”, ended with “Roxanne”, then completed the encores with the classic finale, “Next to You”. At least 15 other tracks were included beyond that.
The highlights:
Stewart Copeland’s moment to shine was his percussion-work on “Wrapped Around Your Finger”. Bloody awesome — the guy’s a legend and one of the best rock drummers/percussionists around
“Hole in My Life” rocked out
Andy Summers cranked out some blistering solos in the most unlikely of places
Sting really knows how to work a crowd
What was just the best thing ever was the fact that almost every song had a fresh arrangement that allowed Summers a lot more breathing room than the originals. Copeland’s creativity just consistently blows me away. And Sting had a beard that he grew in Byron Bay.
The whole thing just felt looser and more improvised, even though it was all obviously well-rehearsed. This is exactly what I wanted — a dream come true — these three musicians coming together after 20 years of separate musical development to create something familiar yet still fresh and new. Here’s hoping they record again together…
The setlist, as I recall (some ordering may be messed up):
“Message in a Bottle”
“Synchronicity II”
“Walking on the Moon”
“Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around” — the latter in a similar arrangement to the one on Sting’s Bring on the Night album, but it sounded so much better with Andy and Stewart back on board
“Don’t Stand So Close to Me” — the arrangement was somewhere between the original and the ‘86 re-recording
“Driven to Tears”
“Hole in My Life”
“Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
“Wrapped Around Your Finger”
“De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”
“Invisible Sun”
“Walking in Your Footsteps”
“Can’t Stand Losing You/Regatta De Blanc”
“Roxanne” (including glorious red lighting over the crowd)
Encore I: “King of Pain”, “So Lonely” (with lyrics “Welcome to the Andy Summers/Stewart Copeland show!”), “Every Breath You Take”
Encore II: “Next to You”
It was essentially their Latin America setlist. At the moment I’m drawing a blank as to whether or not “Truth Hits Everybody” was included or not — I suspect not.
(UPDATE: The setlist above is correct, including the omission of “Truth Hits Everybody”. I have no real issue with this, despite losing one of my favourite songs, because Brisbane also lost out on “Walking in Your Footsteps”, which was another highlight of the Sydney set.)
I missed the support act Fiction Plane — they sounded decent from outside, but no great loss — but I was treated to Fergie singing “My Humps”. Hey, it’s an award-winning song!
My confession: Fergie’s stuff wasn’t that bad when it was UP LOUD. It was her rock medley (featuring covers of McCartney, Led Zep and the Stones, believe it or not) that was the most surreal part of the night, however.
Oh, and I met Marcia Hines while I was there. Photographic evidence coming soon.
Last night I saw DEVO, performing for the first time in Sydney in over 25 years.
Tonight I saw Toto live, and it was the best show I’ve ever seen. Roger Waters was stirring and The Police were thrilling, but Toto were just out of this world. Great songcraft, amazing instrumental passages and the best fucking guitar solo I’ve ever seen or heard, live or not. It’d make a fan out of anyone.
