Basement no bargain, but Pretty great show

Died Pretty
The Basement,Sydney
Friday 19th May, 2000

I understand that the band currently has enough songs demo'd for a new album but there were no new songs in the night's set as Died Pretty made an all too infrequent appearance in their home town.

The only song from "Using My Gills As A Roadmap", the last CD of new material, was "Radio" - presumably because it was also a single and therefore included on the recently released retrospective "Out Of The Unknown",from whence the set list was almost entirely derived.

No "Mirror Blues" unfortunately, but we did get a couple from the mail order only bonus CD: their cover of Ed Kuepper's "Eternally Yours" and their own "Lonesome Bull" (this has been such a live stalwart that it's a surprise to realise that it had never been on an album prior to the retrospective).

The Basement is not really a rock'n'roll venue and right from the opening "Everybody Moves" the band signalled that they were aware of this fact, but that it was irrelevant. A band which has been around for as long as Died Pretty, playing a show comprising nothing but their older numbers in a venue effectively dedicated to cabaret, easily could have been an occasion of sad nostalgia. Instead last Friday night's show simply served to emphasise how timeless most of DP's repertoire will always be. Even the lack of bass in the venue's sound system worked in favour of the performance, making Ron's vocals crystal clear and exposing the ethereal delicacy beneath the tumult and turmoil of songs like "Springenfall" and "Whitlam Square".

I'm applauding this for the novelty of the experience, but I have to admit that it didn't work for all of the songs - in particular "Stops 'n' Starts" suffered from the absence of the bottom end of the sound spectrum, leaving it decidedly anaemic compared with the thumping rocker that it more usually turns into when played live, though "Stoneage Cinderella" gave a good account of herself, and the anthemic "Godbless" never fails to stir my blood.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they did get a good crowd, as the show had hardly been promoted... or at least not in the way that DP would normally be promoted. Apparently the Basement has a mailing list and a regular clientele who roll up to whatever is on - at least that's the only way I can account for the four drunken businessmen at the next table (and they must have done their drinking somewhere else, as I can't imagine anyone getting too sloshed at the Basement's prices). Mercifully they staggered off into the night between the two sets.

Despite the fact that the confined layout of tables did not lend itself to the unbridled dancing which DP's music can cause, there was one hardy fan who was so moved by the music that she insisted on getting up and dancing... and I guess it goes without saying that the selfish bitch was right in front of my table.

Otherwise the audience, including former bassist Steve Clark and ex-Guru Dave Faulkner amongst other notables, was attentive and well behaved, except for one couple right in front of the stage who appeared to be on the verge of some sort of furtive sex act for most of the first set, which added a certain frisson for the rest of the audience to whom this was visible.

Overall, the band seemed relaxed and the performances were controlled, with the interpretations only stretching out towards the end of the second set on old favourites "Winterland" and "Final Twist". Since Ron gave an indication during the show that they are intending to ditch a lot of the older material from the live set once the new album is complete, it was good to have had the chance to catch these classics one more time.
- John McPharlin

PS If you want an idea of the the crowd/music that the Basement normally caters to, it has its own internet radio station via its web site, but even with a 56k modem most of what I got sounded like a stretched cassette tape being played in a cheap portable cassette player with a failing battery. I'm afraid that internet radio still has some hurdles to overcome...