Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Sunday 12 January 2020
Photographer and Reviewer : Annette Geneva
Not many things can get me out of my house on a Sunday night, but when one of somewhat iconic 90’s Welsh post-hardcore bands decide to tour again after 15 years hiatus – it’s a no brainer – I’m there! Playing Oxford Art Factory in Sydney – a quite familiar venue for Andrew Falkous as he played it a few times with Future of The Left over the years.
Lion Island were supposed to kick off quite an early show, but after waiting about 40 minutes I find out that Lion Island pulled out and will not be performing. How dare they? – Was my first thought as I made sure to come early to see the first support band. Later I found out that one of the band members ended up in a hospital today, so I mean…they couldn’t have just duct taped it (whatever it was) – get well soon, Bob!
After a long wait we finally see some action, strutting onto the stage to the tunes of Beach Boys’ ‘Kokomo’, Totally Unicorn as happy as can be to play a sweaty pub metal show with a bunch of crowd interactions and jokes. Frontman Drew Gardner shirtless as always and in his tie-dye short shorts did quite a few of his signature hand stands, scalped some ciggies off the crowd and chugged a few beers all both on stage and amidst the crowd.
Pretty much every song started with an introduction: “This song is great, you really are going to love this song” the set started off with ’33’ off their latest highly regarded album Sorry, followed by ‘Heavy Breathing’ and wrapped up with ‘I’ll Be Fine Now’ and ‘Grub’ at which point Gardner successfully turned his mic lead into a skipping rope – what fun!
The crowd was getting impatient and started chanting for Mclusky to come on stage. It was a mixed crowd of under 30s and over 40s which I thought wouldn’t mosh much – oh boy I was wrong.
When the band took the stage with their “mostly” original line up they didn’t beat around the bush and got right into it with ’Fuck This Band’ off McLusky Do Dallas – the fans were ecstatic, no surprise there since most of them were waiting for this moment for the last 15 years. I overheard that there were even a few people who came from Hobart to see the show. We all have heard some of the songs off tonight’s set list at Future Of The Left shows over the years, however they never sounded this angsty and this loud. ‘Dethink to Survive’ and ‘Collagen’ got the fans jumping about on the floor and it got a bit rowdy for my liking, so I moved further back to observe the rest of the show. The band had a few technical issues during ‘Without MSG I Am Nothing’ but they were resolved quickly.
‘What We’ve Learned’ was introduced by Andrew Falkous – “This is the song dedicated to our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ and all his disciples – Chris, Peter….” Damien Sayell made a comment and Falkous added : “I said disciples, not electrician, you c*nt, everybody needs electricians” – the crowd had a laugh or two.
There was not one song that didn’t have a little memo before the start of the song, if you didn’t get that memo or that particular joke – well you just aren’t fan enough. Falkous: “I knew you guys would like this song, Sydney always likes a ballad”.
‘Rice Is Nice’ was started and stopped several time – just to mess with the punters – the band seemed to have a little too much fun with that all throughout the show. Sayell joked his way into the crowd’s good books as random people kept buying him drinks.
Falkous continued his sarcastic, but entertaining comments : “I dedicate this song to my cousin…I dedicate every song to her. She’s dead now, but we were really close…she’s not really dead but she lives in Edinburgh – same f*cking thing”. – ‘Lightsaber Blues’ really made the crowd go insane and sing along. There were also a few warnings: “Don’t applaud the song before it starts” – exclaimed Falkous, then he shared some advice – “If you find a way to criticise Eric Clapton every day, you’d be happier…”
‘You Should Be Ashamed, Seamus’ was introduced as the best song, feel free to disagree, “but you will be wrong”. ‘She Will Only Bring You Happiness’ was hinted to be about the band’s former drummer and ‘Chases’ saw Sayell get himself down on the floor with a “skinny punter” on his shoulders screaming into the microphone. By this point I noticed that the venue was absolutely packed, there was no way of getting from one end of the floor to another. The set was wrapped up with ‘To Hell With Good Intentions’.
Now I hope there’s a new album in the works and we won’t have to wait anther 15 years for Mclusky to come back to Australia.
