Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses@ The Gov 16/9/2011

Tue 20th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

It has been a real purple patch for Tex Perkins, releasing two albums relatively close together, with The Dark Horses and his country infused Band Of Gold . Nevertheless, Friday night at The Gov, which was was set up in a mixed cabaret mode with some tables and chairs, was all about Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses.

For much of the night Tex and his band seemed stuck in second gear and had trouble lifting the show to the level of previous exploits in our fair city. His banter was off the boil and given most punters there were keen to start the weekend on a high, I’m surprised there wasn’t a more energised performance or carefully selected set list.

The band opened with a subdued What Do You Want Now and followed up with Looking At You But Seeing Her which didn’t do much to raise the level of excitement in the room.

The next few songs continued in quick succession with Word To Come and Cold Feet from the Sweet Nothing album. The touch of sarcasm while introducing the next tune was Perkins’ finest moment of banter, suggesting that Necessary Evil was so delicate the crowd should just chatter over it to destroy the moment.

A few familiar faces by way of Her Own Life and Changelings featured prominently in amongst the newer material. It would have been great at this point to hear something form his Man In Black repertoire to help pick up the pace of the evening.

The encore had plenty of saving graces with Ice In The Sun from the Dark Horses album and the very popular Lucid which the crowd finally found its voice for. It seemed appropriate that the show was wrapped up with Things Don’t Seem So Bad… After , a message in it for all of us.