Powderfinger @ Memorial Drive,Adelaide (16/09/10)

Sat 18th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

And so now it begins: the speculation as to when – if? – Powderfinger reform and tour the nation once more. It seems a fait accompli that it will happen; how, after all, can one of Australia’s most beloved bands simply bow out without returning at some point in the future for an encore lap of the nation following this farewell ‘Sunsets’ jaunt?

The Regular Cohort has already plugged in the relatively close-at-hand 2014 as the likely year of PR (Powderfinger Reformation), but a more strategic view may point towards 2018 – the year that Australia will (at this stage merely potentially) play host to the World Cup. That would then, assuredly, pave the way for a full national tour in 2019, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the band’s earliest foundations in 1989. But, for now, it’s goodbye, fare thee well, and God Bless. Some twenty years since they took their first formative steps, Powderfinger are stalking Australia like a behemoth, with their own painted aeroplane, and Jet safely tucked away in their luggage.

The Melbourne, Australia (as they repeatedly assert) group play a set that’s surprisingly short on material from their best known album, their debut Get Born, instead focussing on a host of material from most recent effort Shaka Rock. A song like Seventeen goes down a treat, but other deep album cuts fall by the wayside – nevertheless, Are You Gonna Be My Girl is the sort of brilliant rock ‘n roll tune that can’t help but elicit audience participation, while Nic Cester’s scream is in full-throated roar for the closing Rip It Up. A couple of new songs indicate that the band are continuing to hone their pop chops, and it bodes well for a band whose future could well have been blown away by the winds of change in the intervening years since they burst out of the blocks.

Adelaide’s first farewell Powderfinger concert – the second is in late October – also finds Brisbane four-piece Yves Klein Blue along for the ride, although the Adelaide audience gives them short shrift, not even applauding after a terrific guitar solo from Charles Sale. Perhaps that’s because they’re so terribly overblown, about a subtle as a brick through a window. It’s just all noise, noise, noise, and very little in way, shape or form like a ‘song’ – it’s only towards the end of their set, when the play single Polka and debut album highlight Getting Wise that they allow space to appear in their sound and their strengths show through. In truth, the highlight of YKB’s set was when The Regular Cohort took part in a devious plan to get in every romantic couple photo taken in the aisle in front: shenanigans ensued.

Space and using the dynamic interchange of instruments is one of the things that always set Powderfinger apart from their peers. Opening with Love Your Way, it’s there from the get-go – acoustic introduction, build to a guitar solo, explode into the ether. It’s been a key component of their sound for a long time, and it’s one that they employ repeatedly; songs such as Lost and Running, My Kinda Scene and recent single from The Golden Rule, Sail the Wildest Stretch, all employ a similar formula. Perhaps it’s a case that when you find a good thing, you stick to it.

The biggest surprise comes when the band decamp from the stage a mere 40 minutes or so into the set, then re-emerge in front of the mixing desk to play a two-song, one-instrumental set of hard-rockers, with first Like a Dog then Belter. While the instrumental drum-heavy mood piece takes place, Bernard Fanning emerges back on the main stage for a touching solo take on Nobody Sees. Perhaps it’s a portent of what is to come for the frontman.

Certainly, the take on Double Allergic cut (Return Of) The Electric Horseman, with guitarist Darren Middleton taking lead vocal duties, is proof positive that the band could easily continue to exist without their leader. He doesn’t have the warmth that Fanning exudes but, as his time with Drag proved, he can write a decent tune or three.

Powderfinger close the shows with reminiscences from times gone by, dedicating a number to the Two Julies, two women who have been part of the fabric of this town’s rock ‘n roll scene for a long time, and it was fantastic to hear them acknowledged by a band of this stature. They finish with a trio of perhaps their finest moments – Pick You Up, On My Mind, and These Days. A wave to all corners of the crowd, and then they’re gone. Now it’s a matter of waiting to see – will we see them again, or is that truly the final waltz?