RADIO
BIRDMANThursday, May 30 2002
@ The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
RADIO
BIRDMAN
Thursday, May 30 2002
@ The Corner Hotel, Melbourne
Story and Pictures:
JOHN McPHARLIN
Another day, another town, another venue, another Birdman show. Yeah Hup.
Tonight's support act, D4 (all the way from New Zealand for this one show),
played an energetic set to an appreciative, but small (though growing) crowd.
Like the Sydney shows, both the Melbourne shows were sold out well in advance,
even if not too many of those ticket holders were making much of an effort to
catch anyone except the main act tonight.
Compared with the other venues so far, the Corner Hotel is a proper, old-style pub rock venue with a history going way back into the dim mists of time when dinosaurs walked the earth, the Sandman was king of the road (and car park) and blokes everywhere sported mullets. It's easy to regret the lack of the later, post-pub rock refinements of the Metro, such as the tiered floor and absence of annoying pillars, but if you get down to the front of the stage early, you can survive without them.
The Corner Hotel has two separate stages - a small side stage for the support band and then a larger one for the main act. Throughout the support set, the larger stage remained hidden behind curtains (despite the Metro having curtains as well, they weren't used for any of the shows there). As soon as the D4's set ended, the hardcore punters made their way straight over to the front on the main stage, then had to stand there for over half an hour to maintain and defend their positions.
Although the Melbourne crowd wasn't quite as feverish as the Brisbane crowd (at least not tonight), tensions and expectations were definitely running high nevertheless. The moment the curtains finally did part, there were flashes from about a dozen cameras, even though the stage was still empty at that point. Obviously everyone was keen to catch and record as much of the night for posterity as possible and the sight of the three Birdman banners was more than enough to get the juices pumping.
The broad structure of the setlist has become settled now. Generally they've been playing for about two hours all up (sometimes five minutes less, sometimes ten minutes more), opening the proceedings with "Hanging On", closing the main set with "Descent Into The Maelstrom", using "New Race" to end the first encore (which often begins with "Man With Golden Helmet" and "Transmaniacon MC") and using "You're Gonna Miss Me" to end the second encore (which usually includes "I-94").
Having said that, I don't remember them ending the first show in Sydney with "You're Gonna Miss Me". I have to admit that I don't remember what they might have ended that show with instead, but I don't remember it being that... Of course there were several hours of drinking in the foyer bar and adjacent Roma Theatre (or rather, theatrette) immediately after that show, which may explain why the memories are a little less than crystal clear (even if I did not continue on for the 3am dinner at the BBQ Inn, with appropriate additional alcoholic accompaniment, eh Craig?).
It
also seems to me that they might have opened the show in Brisbane with "Smith
and Wesson Blues", although it may be that I am even more confused than
usual about the events early on at that show, due to having a crowd surfer fall
on my head during the second song of the night while I was trying to take pictures
of the band.
What I do know is that they could have played the same songs in exactly the same order each night and each show would still have been different, because how they played the songs was changing subtly (or sometimes dramatically) from night to night, as was how the audiences reacted to them, as was how they were reacting to the audiences. For example, Rob Younger seemed particularly effusive tonight, alternatively joking with the audience and then taunting them (and throughout every exchange there was no doubting that he was the one completely in control of the situation).
Over this tour so far, the pattern seems to have been one of experimentation and development and then consolidation. The first night in Sydney sounded like a consolidation of the rehearsals up to that point, tight and aggressive but no one going out onto any limbs, while the second night in Sydney was a progression from that - expanding on the previous night's performance, slipping some new songs into the set, playing some of the other songs slightly differently and taking a few chances musically in the process.
Brisbane was a bit of both, but mainly a consolidation due to early technical problems, to which the band responded by staying tight and focused, holding back on any improvising within the established outline. However it still developed into a killer exhibition driving geetar rock'n'roll as the night progressed, with "Dark Surprise" and "Descent into The Maelstrom" in particular breaking new ground as the band finally let themselves off the leash entirely.
Tonight leaned more toward consolidation than development as well, due partly to some early technical hitches once again (a roadie even had to rip off the Birdman banner covering Deniz's amp in order to get up close and personal with one problem), although one standout moment (or collection of moments) was a super hot version of "455 SD" which then segued straight into a thundering "Hand Of Law", both of which sounded better than any of the versions of either song played at any of the previous shows. Tonight's renditions of "Aloha Steve and Danno" and "New Race" were also the best of the tour so far (and predictably enough both sent the crowd into a frenzy), while "Transmaniacon MC" was so slowed down and mutated that I hardly recognized it from the previous shows.
This was also the smallest stage the band had yet played on, with Jim and Deniz looking almost claustrophobic, crammed into a small area at stage right (my right that is), while Chris Masuak had a bit more room to roam between Rob in the centre and Pip at far left. Every time Rob moved towards Chris and Pip, Jim and Deniz would instantly spread out to avail themselves of the extra space, no matter how briefly it was on offer. Whether or not the close confines of the stage had anything to do with it, the band went at its labours tight and sweaty right from the start (and as a rhythm section, Jim and Ron were now so tight that they could almost have worn the one set clothes between them).
Chris seemed especially "stripped for action" tonight. After having had most of his face in shadow for the first three shows, due to a large floppy cap, tonight he'd gone nude - leaving off the cap to reveal a shaved head which, combined with the sunnies and goatee beard, gave him a stern look that was all strictly business. I couldn't help noticing that when Deniz popped out from the dressing room to share a few words with those of us still hanging around finishing our last beers long after show was over, you could tell from the dried blood on some of his fingers that clearly he hadn't been holding anything back either.
Maybe it's just my impression, but there seemed to be less quiet tunes in the setlist tonight (understanding of course that "quiet" is a relative term when it comes to discussing a Birdman set). Whatever the causes, tonight's show was a raging display of the band at full throttle. Standing in the audience, it was like being very close to the train tracks when an express goes roaring past - much of the individual detail becomes a blur in the suddenness and swiftness of it, but the hot wind of its passing blows your hair around while you're deafened by the noise it makes and left in no doubt that something with an enormous amount of momentum just went hurtling by...
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