THE SUPERSUCKERS - Annandale Hotel 18/04/08

Being a bit of a latecomer to the magic of The Supersuckers, I was only really familiar with their 2003 album 'Motherfuckers Be Trippin''; having seen the rave reviews of previous live performances however, I wasn't going to miss this one especially as the venue was the intimate Annandale Hotel - host of many great rock shows over the years.

After a short delay in taking the stage Eddie Spaghetti corralled his boys and burst into a full-tilt set from the off, only pausing after about the fifth song to say "OK, the preamble is done, how about we start the set now?!.. Give it up for the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world, The Supersuckers!!" Ya know that the last part is said with tongue firmly in cheek, though from the evidence of tonight's performance it's not far from the truth.

The whole band were tight and on fire throughout the duration of the set which kept up an engaging momentum from start to finish. Material was drawn from across the entire length of their career with some favourites being "Rock 'n' Roll Records (Ain't Selling This Year)", "I Want the Drugs", "Coattail Rider", "Creepy Jackalope Eye" and "Pretty Fucked Up". The Supersuckers manage to infuse their songs with an irreverent humour that never becomes a "joke" but cranks up the fun level immeasurably... their's is a brand of rock 'n' roll that you can dance to with a smile on your face.

In the words of Lemmy (Motorhead): "If you don't love The Supersuckers, you don't love rock 'n' roll."

W.A.S.P. - Metro Theatre 08/04/08

I had been waiting to see W.A.S.P. for a long time, being as they were one of the earlier "heavy" bands I got into back in the heady days of the '80's (Blackie Lawless at one point said it had been 22 years since he'd been on Australian soil and in '86 I was still a wee bit young to get to a lot of shows by the bands my parents hated!) so when I heard they'd be playing their '92 concept masterpiece 'The Crimson Idol' along with some other favourites I had my ticket quicker than you could say "now on sale".

With "Mephisto Waltz" serving as an intro, the stage darkened and then there they were: the most absurd '80's boots that any '80's hair-rocker could ever wish to see their hero standing in - white cowboy boots with long tassels all the way around. But the moment to giggle was short-lived as without a word, the band launched into the serious business of 'The Crimson Idol's opening track "The Titanic Overture" and commenced a performance that is currently tussling with Iron Maiden as my favourite of 2008 so far. Perhaps it was the lingering emotional connection to an album that resonated so profoundly with me when I heard it in my younger years, perhaps it was the closer confines of a much smaller venue (than Maiden's) - packed out, by the way - or maybe the fact that the band were just "on".

I had harboured fears of Blackie being bloated, careless and unable to belt out these tracks, but these fears were unfounded. The band too were excellent, in particular Doug Blair's guitar work. The stage lighting was dim for the majority of the main set as a video screen was employed to show the film that had been made to accompany the album but which, until this tour, had never been seen. The black and white images on screen complimented the music perfectly and elevated the album's already dramatic story-line, creating a powerful experience. (As did the complete lack of between song banter.) For a couple of later songs the screen gave way to fuller lighting showcasing the bands performance and this fitted well into the story, being used as it was for the protagonist's own stage performances. I have a hard time picking stand out tracks on the album and so too with it's live execution though "The Idol" and "The Great Misconception Of Me" come to mind.

I would have been well and truly satisfied if that had been the end of this show, however after 10 minutes of watching Elvis in his 'Aloha '76' concert during which time the band took a break, they were back to give us a handful more tracks, the stage now featuring the artwork from latest album 'Dominator' (from which there was one song played) and strangely, the Elvis footage continuing in the background(!) Here we were treated to some old fave's from the band's back catalog and were left with the hope that it won't take so long again.

For those (and there are many) who have dismissed W.A.S.P. as a result of their early career shock-rock antics and overt sexual themes have missed out on seeing Blackie Lawless develop his songcraft and create some of American music's most enduring tracks of the last 20-odd years... But the faithful in attendance tonight were treated to a feast.

Setlist:
(Intro - Mephisto Waltz)
The Crimson Idol
1. The Titanic Overture
2. The Invisible Boy
3. Arena Of Pleasure
4. Chainsaw Charlie (Murders In The New Morgue)
5. The Gypsy Meets The Boy
6. Doctor Rockter
7. I Am One
8. The Idol
9. Hold On To My Heart
10. The Great Misconceptions Of Me
----------------------------------------
11. L.O.V.E. Machine
12. Wild Child
13. Take Me Up
14. I Wanna Be Somebody
15. Blind In Texas

(Will try and get a clip up soon.)

THE BLACK CROWES - Hordern Pavilion 30/03/08

The last time I saw The Black Crowes was at this very venue back when they were touring around the time of the 'Southern Harmony...' album and I remember that to be a fantastic show (the various substances imbibed at the time along with those wafting around the venue may have helped); on this particular Sunday night however, I was nowhere near as full of piss 'n' vinegar as I was back some 15+ years ago and it appeared the same could be said of the band.

Ambling on & languidly slipping into their groove (mostly slower to mid-tempo tonight) I found that from the get-go I wasn't really engaged. There was, to my ears, some bad mixing of Chris Robinson's mic which perhaps didn't help matters (much clearer was his brother Rich when he came to sing lead on the odd verse later in the set) and the band seemed intent on displaying the wares of their latest album 'Warpaint' rather than breaking out many favourites. This in itself is fine as I'm never one to only want to hear the "hits" but I felt that sometimes the set didn't flow perhaps as well as it could have.

Now I don't want to fill this review with only negatives as it was far from a bad gig: Chris' voice is as wonderful as ever and only matures with age, as does the band's sound as a whole. There wasn't too much in the way of extended jamming but there was some great lead work from both the keyboardist and the two guitarists to keep the musos in the crowd happy. The new tunes were enough to prompt me to pick up the new album the following day and while it's definitely a "grower" it contains some terrific tracks illustrating how much this band has matured whilst still maintaining their unique identity.

It wasn't the same band that I saw tonight and no doubt I am not the same person as last time either and it's just unfortunate that things didn't really "click" on this occasion as The Black Crowes are an American original and I hope we have seen the last hiatus from them for some time.