CHECK OUT THE FIRST PHOTOS FROM THIS SHOW HERE!

The first thing we notice arriving at the Lake Kawana Community Centre is the diversity of people turning up for the concert. Ten year old kids with their mums & dads, teenagers with their friends, club scene girls, pub scene blokes and people who proudly wear a few 50 is the new 30 tshirt.

Inside, the party has started, with Whitley playing the first set of the tour, and showing a few nerves for it. A man and his guitar, melodic songs & some sweet guitar playing, Whitley gets back to basics. Of the 200 or so people who have staked their territory early at front of stage, surprisingly all eyes are on Whitley. In between songs he expresses his great admiration for Powderfinger and perhaps overwhelms himself with the occasion. For a guitarist who looked so solid only minutes before, his timing flounders slightly in the next song & the audience drifts into conversation. In the bridge of the song he re-finds his guitar groove, the lifeblood of any solo artist, and the crowd comes back on board. He starts his last with as sweet and smooth a finger picked intro as you are likely to hear. He has won some new fans tonight and after a few years on the road paying his dues he may be looking for his own support act, but tonight the crowd are hungry for the main event.

Enter Powderfinger for their acoustic set, through a wooden door and down a few stairs cleverly set into the backdrop. The door seems to lead from a painted high-rise city into an imaginary Escher inspired world. Stairways lead up and down in different directions and hallway arches frame the centre piece which is a chessboard of black and white tiles leading to a golden orb planet set in outer space. If the chessboard represents the game of the music industry, then these Brissy boys have certainly navigated their way through it.

Bernard Fanning is relaxed and chats about the fact that the audience voted for the songs played this evening, stating with good humour “It’s your fault!” They kick off with an old favourite The Day You Come. Fanning apologises for not playing on the Sunshine Coast for so many years, and with a grin blames it on their manager. They briefly reminisce about the old days when they used to play “Fridays” and the Mooloolaba Hotel. Some obscure songs come out of the bag, including a B-side from Parables For Wooden Ears, Sweet Thing. A couple of songs including Nobody Sees receive a country even rockabilly make-over, and we wonder if they’ll break out into line dancing. An introspective version of Whatever Makes You Happy could have been a beautiful moment, but the opportunity is lost as punters who are here only for the rock or those whose attention span is diminished by too many overpriced Bundy and Colas begin to talk. Fanning and Ian Haug briefly leave the stage introducing Darren Middleton to play his own song writing effort JC, to which drummer Jon Coghill adds a light funky feel. They finish the set with beautiful These Days, an obvious crowd favourite. Fanning steps back from the mic to let the crowd take over. Fanning promises they’ll be back to “Rock it out” for the second set.

The backdrop disappears and the stage opens up. The boys return in more casual attire to get down and dirty. They crank into gear with Stumblin and Since You’ve Been Gone. It’s not all electric guitars and balls to the wall rock’n’roll, as Fanning pulls out his acoustic Maton for Wishing On The Same Moon. It’s not until My Happiness that the mosh pit brigade really fire up and at least one arm raised in the air becomes compulsory. Once the throttle is wide open, there’s no going back. They bludgeon any remaining doubters into submission with oldie Pick You Up. There’s no pretty boy rock’n’roll here – these guys were born and raised in leafy Brisbane suburbs, and maybe it’s that familiarity that so many people love about them – they’re ours.

The band dutifully play the game of waiting to be called back for an encore. A roadie horn player joins for Passenger and they close with (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind. The audience has chosen a well rounded mix of hits and near hits, new and old, and it’s truly been a night for the fans. When Fanning says, “God bless every fucken’ one of ya!”, you can tell that he means it.