Australia has something of a history of producing world class acoustic pop music of staggering depth and resonance that is generally ignored at home, yet finds an audience the world over and never gets its due until years post-the-fact. I am thinking of the Go-Betweens, The Triffids, The Innocents, The Someloves and more recently I am definitely thinking of the Ice Cream Hands and the fabulous Lucksmiths. For the last sixteen years, over eleven albums, the Lucksmiths have banged out great record after great record to be met by a mostly disinterested Australia, save for a small but rabid fan-base. However they have similar fan-bases the world over and have been able to tour with adoring audiences throughout Europe, Japan and the USA. However the guys have decided to call it a day, doing a handful of farewell shows in Australia, and in many ways Joni Mitchell had it right when she said – œDon’t it always seem to go, You don’t know what you got til it’s gone’.

Friday night was the last Adelaide Lucksmiths gig ever. Jive was nowhere near full, but the healthy crowd was positively brimming with excitement. New indie kids on the block Humble Bee (surely one of the great band names of recent times) kicked things off with a lovely set of acoustic-y pop. The initial duo of Carly Whittaker and Ben Revi, has been expanded to a sextet with members swapping instruments and vocal duties throughout. Despite a few sound issues, their affable stage presence and catchy tunes were warmly received and their reasonably price CD (ten tracks for five bucks) proved popular at the merch desk.

Tonight though, was all about The Lucksmiths, who amusingly referred to their set as a – œgreatest hits package’. A should-have-been-hits collection perhaps, as many of the songs tonight capture the heart and soul of love with snapshots of everyday life, in a way that is seldom accomplished with success. Even Stevens, for example, is a lovely song about one couple’s ongoing Scrabble competition.

“One for you in the afternoon,
One for me in the evening,
Seven years of Scrabble
And we’re even stevens’

It’s a simple and beautiful. It paints the picture of a long term relationship where the couple are happy enough hanging out with each other, in a playful competition in which they are evenly matched. The fact they are playing Scrabble also nicely implies that they are smart and literate people in a way that could not have been achieved if the protagonists had been playing, say, Hungry Hungry Hippo for seven years.

Belle & Sebastian or Magnetic Fields will tell a wider story by focusing on the close-up of a relationship. Fountains of Wayne can tell a love story of breath-taking clarity in sixty seconds (You & Me from Welcome Interstate Managers). Likewise, the Lucksmiths’ pop sensibilities and attention to the tiny details of love and loss, all put forward in an emotionally direct and somehow masculine fashion, sets them head and shoulders above the Aussie musical pack. The word play is witty and inspired and will be sadly missed. Each new song is greeted with squeals and some screams while people dance like mad things as they know this is their last chance to do so. They are full of praise for the venue too.

“We didn’t know there was any other venue than the Grace Emily in Adelaide,” quipped Marty “and they didn’t want us this time!” causing jeers from the crowd.

So it’s their most popular tunes that get an enthusiastic airing. Under The Rotunda, Smokers in Love, Downside to the Upstairs, and The Chapter of Your Life Called San Francisco were all received with particular relish. Great Lengths starts with the brilliant couplet
– œRemember that New Years Eve,
When I was frightened by a firework’.

The set ends with indie radio (and crowd) favourite T-Shirt Weather. People are singing and dancing, hugging each other and clearly being swept away in the glory of the song and emotion of the event. They return for a last few tunes including Sunlight in a Jar.
– œI tried to write an opera for us
But I didn’t get too far,
Coz trying to sum you up in song,
Is like catching sunlight in a jar’

So often when a band has a limited fan base, if the end was nigh, they would simply just not-be-there one day. Thankfully the Luckys have afforded both us and themselves the opportunity to say goodbye properly.

I am reminded of another unsung band – Big Star. I can’t help but believe (and hope) that at some point in the future, just has happened with Big Star, the word – œlegendary’ will be automatically be inserted in hushed tones whenever The Lucksmiths are referred to. There will be tribute albums proclaiming their genius and hipsters forming bands inspired by them and wearing retro styled Lucksmiths t-shirts in their film clips. They may have been (mostly) unsung heroes, but their heroic songs will live on full of joy and love and glory.