Hail Ian Brown! When this show was first announced I was literally jumping up and down even screaming like a school girl. I couldn’t believe after all this time and Ian Brown – rather the legendary Ian Brown – was coming to Adelaide. The last time was the Stone Roses at Thebarton Theatre in October 1995.
I don’t think music lovers in Adelaide have realised how lucky they are to see such a performer play a relatively small venue. In the UK he’d easily play to crowds four times the size, if not bigger. Despite the Festival Fringe and other goings-on, I would have thought the bargain basement ticket price of thirty-eight sobs would have reeled them, rather than just ex-pats and tourists making up the numbers.
Nevertheless, it’s been over ten years since the break up of the Stone Roses and five solo albums have come our way since. This tour would showcase predominantly the 2007 release The World Is Yours. For me, it would be interesting to see how these songs would come to life, given the orchestration of some songs.
The atmosphere in The Gov was an odd one, taking a while to build. It was clear that the crowd didn’t take to the support band Belles Will Ring. It wasn’t due to the lack of effort, but rather punters wanting the main act on now given the late start.
In the midst of a smoky haze and a scaled down light show, the great man appeared to an arousing reception launching in to the atmospheric I Wanna Be Adored. Gee, with an opener of this magnitude from the infamous Stone Roses self-titled debut, the bar was set high right from the get go.
Ian Brown was full of swagger and loaded with attitude. It is quite easy to see why so many bands have tried valiantly to copy him, and why he now moves to the opposite direction of the music spectrum to carve out his own niche. Brown really does feed off the crowd and channels the excitement and energy like a true frontman.
The set list covered the entire back catalogue, but whether it included everyone’s favourite is a tough one to know. The pinnacle of the night was the encore, which raised the excitement yet again with Waterfall and Made Of Stone before finishing on FEAR. It was an almost perfect closer, slowing things down without killing the mood and finessing the journey travelled over the last hour and a quarter.
This will be remembered as one of the most memorable gigs I’ve seen for quite a while. Fingers crossed that ‘Brownie’ will return again sometime soon.
