HOUSEFUL OF BIRDMAN TRAGICS
RADIO BIRDMAN
+ GIANTS OF SCIENCE
@ The Metro, Sydney,
June 2, 2002
WORDS: The Barman
PICTURES: John McPharlin
Ignore the headline. It's paraphrasing the title given to our cricket mad Prime Minister. He's been wearing the "Cricket Tragic" tag as a badge of pride ever since. If you caught one or more of the 2002 shows, you should tell people you're a "Birdman Tragic" at every opportunity. Tell everybody you can and ensure that the Bird is the Word.
The only tragedy at a packed Metro was that this was the last show of the tour. Shit, it's been fun. Maybe it was the knowledge that this was the final show of the tour, maybe it was that I was viewing it with a sober disposition (out-of-character but having taken the option to drive a car this night, it was the only sane course of action.) To me, this was a leap on all that went before (and I know I boxed myself in by giving the first Sydney gig five Rolling Rocks - I'm a Tragic so tell someone who cares.)Technically, the band nary put a foot wrong. Energy-wise, they had it all. (Hope that wanker from the Sydney Morning Herald who panned the band a week earlier was there, but I somehow doubt it.)
First up, however, were Giants of Science and there had been mixed views of the support spots they'd filled prior to this. I missed their Sydney spot but don't mind their EP. Happily, they more than matched recorded efforts tonight with a tight, noisy set that blurred the lines between 'stoner" and 'rock'. A tasteful cover of "Gimme Danger" had the crowd shaking (including that crazy bearded guy who does endless laps of the Annandale dance floor.) Not bad and you know it could even make radio fodder (meaning it in a nice way.)
Changeover and you knew this was going to be deliciously loud during the changeover as the road crew tested the kick drum and a reassuring "whooompf" of air came back. Blue Oyster Cult's "Then Came the Last Days of May" (the tour intro) languidly made its way out of the PA and still sounded good in these First Days of June.The band strode purposely out and "Hangin' On" opens the batting. Loud? You betacha. And you knew it was going to be a helluva innings when Ron Keeley nailed that crucial snare beat, rolling off the toms and back into the song and Dr Tek gave him an approving nod.
Approving nods are all over the place as the band revels in the energy flowing off the stage, into the crowd and back. Onstage, high-fives and hugs rule and some of the guitar-work is mind-boggling. As usual in the band's second life, leads are carved up equitably between Klondike and the Iceman. Both respond by making the most of their opportunities to shine by adding extra trimmings, without lapsing into excess. There's a jamming, jazzier aspect to the show tonight.
All respect to the Warlord who went before but Jim Dickson has added a different sense of dynamics into the mix. He was clearly playing the best show of the tour of his life, head bobbing frantically and mouthing the lyrics of every song. Ron Keeley's semi-regular weekend drumming with his UK pub band the Suspects has kept given him more match practice that critics outside the band's circle would have given credit. Tonight, he plays like he doesn't want to leave the stage.
Also evidently loving it all is Rob Younger, swapping quips with the audience as he hangs off the mic stand, alternate beer and water bottles in hand. Despite the occasional self-doubting comment, you know Rob is NOT doing this just for the money. His preferred mode of vocal delivery might be a little less anthemic these days, with all sorts of melodic exploration, but if he's just going through the motions, Rob is one helluva an actor. The vocals are strong, the presence magnetic and the spaces full of characteristic ad libs. No-one delivers an "Oh yeah" like him.
Highlights? Lots of little ones that make up the whole..."455-SD" - Dr Tek: "There was a time...there was a time...when we were heavily into cars" - vaporises minds and peters away beautifully. "Maelstrom" continues to grow and is thunderous in its delivery. So is an increasingly brutal "Do the Pop!" and precise takes
on "Non Stop Girls" and "What Gives?" leave the crowd's collective jaws agape. Pip Hoyle's solos and the traded guitar licks in "Man With Golden Helmet" do the same. In fact, the BOC-like dual soloing and duelling is one more winning element in a night of many. The band stretches the songs more than on previous nights, introducing an element of jazziness that's staggering. The swelling chorus and melody at the heart of "Cryin' Sun" sounds stupendous, as does the fieriest "Dark Surprise" of the tour. And the "hits" ("New Race" and "Aloha...") are delivered like lightning-precise sucker punches to a glass jaw. Incredible.
Two hours at the batting crease and the team finally closed the innings with a scorching "You're Gonna Miss Me". As you might read elsewhere, don't believe it won't happen again. Prior to the second encore and not for nothing did the Iceman tell the crowd (the emphasis is mine): "It's great to have the band back together again", while Ron Keeley's post-encore passing attraction to the microphone had him telling us: "We'll be back".
