Powderfinger, Jet, AndrewMorris @ Memorial Drive,Adelaide (30/10/10)

Tue 2nd Nov, 2010 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.

Powderfinger were here only a month or so ago for part one of their Sunsets Farewell Tour and now return for the finale. The day was wet, miserable, windy and bloody cold but fortunately the rain held off as another capacity Memorial Drive was on hand to say farewell to one of Australia’s best bands. Plenty will agree that it was worth braving the Arctic like conditions to see all the hits and memories by Powderfinger.

Andrew Morris opened proceedings in sterling form playing songs off his new album Shadow Of A Shadow. With Bernard Fanning spruiking his solo show the next day at the Wheatsheaf Hotel, there’s no doubt there would be a few extra people attending.

Jet were up next and despite all their criticisms I thought they played a tight and top notch set. Opening with Cold Hard Bitch Jet gave fans a taste of their discography playing the likes of Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, Holiday, Bring It On Back and Look What You’ve Done. Shaka Rock was definitely the flavour of the night with the likes of She’s A Genius, Black Hearts (On Fire) and Seventeen all being well received. Darren Middleton made a guest cameo on Shiny Magazine and the set wouldn’t be complete without Are You Gonna Be My Girl?. The lyrics of Rip It Up baffle me but that brought their set to a close.

There was a real sense of anticipation and the realisation that this would be the last time we’ll see Powderfinger play in Adelaide (well, for now anyway). As soon as the clock hit nine o’clock it was show time and with the stadium lights fading it was on. For me, this show far exceeded what I saw a month ago with a cracking set list and just seeing Bernard, Darren, JC, Ian and Cogsy enjoying themselves up there was a pleasure to watch.

Opening with Love Your Way the set was a real treasure trove of hits playing the more tunes such as Lost And Running and Burn Your Name before delving in to the back catalogue dusting off a few from Double Allergic, Internationalist and Odyssey Number Five – it was all good!

It has been a long time coming but I could have almost done back flips when DAF was played (probably my all time favourite Powderfinger tune) and hearing Already Gone was another one of those rare treats. Thrilloilogy was great enhanced by some audio visual projections running in the background.

It was a round this time where a temporary stage in front of the sound desk was set up where the ‘Finger got up close and in the thick of it with their fans playing Like A Dog and Stumblin’. Returning to the main stage it was Private Man where the crowd could chip in with some well timed hand claps and the big applause was reserved for My Happiness with everyone finding voice to sing-a-long in earnest. Passenger closed the main set before the band returned for two encores.

As far as encores go it doesn’t get any better than The Day You Come (featuring Jet and Andrew Morris), Pick You Up and (Baby I’ve Got You) On My Mind. That could have been a fitting finale but the crowd wanted more so the band returned and did the obligatory thank you’s for supporting them over the journey before finishing on the fitting These Days.

Thankyou Powderfinger, the journey has been great and this show will serve as a great memory of this band.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.