Eskimo Joe @ The Astor, Perth,14/10/11

Wed 19th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Opening the evening was Perth lads, The Chemist, and they were perfectly suited for an awesome sold out Astor crowd, with Ben Witt’s vocals seeking their way through an eager and energetic crowd. The mood was set with Lullaby #1 getting the crowd excited.

The band once seen at the Grosvenor back room playing with buckets on their heads have come a long way, from supporting Beaverloop to selling out The Astor Theatre two nights in a row. Eskimo Joe stepped onstage and sent a shout out to Sarah straight off the bat before stepping into New York, the band looked rather suave, especially Stuart MCleod …Stuey looked just lovely.

By the end of NY the front section of the Astor was filled with fans trying to get a closer look,Older Than You and Breaking Up continued the hits with the New York reprise, before newer track Speeding Car slowed the tempo, while onetime skins man Joel Quartermaine took over on acoustic guitar.

An impromptu version of You Fucking Rule flowed into the surging Foreign Land while Childish Behaviour showed off the tender side of Kav Temperley’s vocal range. Numero Uno fan, Kelly Armstrong was invited onstage to collect a dream come true; a lifetime golden ticket to all Eskimo Joe gigs, before Temperley serenaded her with a brilliant cover of , the greatest voice of all time, Roy Orbison’s Crying, it was amazing.

The tenderness was crushed when Joel, armed with what seemed like a massive bongo drum started rattling off the intro to Dont Let Me Down which had smiles lighting up the darkness of the Astor, Stuey also got his percussion on with Tamborine duties. Ghosts Of The Past opener Give It All Away rolled into When We Were Kids before the Fremantle boys took it back To The Sea in rocking, spectacular fashion.

After a brief moment of encoreitis, Temperley returned to the stage struggling to pop the cork on a bottle of champers, but the celebrations of a highly successful tour would not have been complete without a beautiful rendition of London Bombs and a rousing rendition of the aussie anthem Black Fingernails, Red Wine.

Eskimo Joe are on top of their game, and are amazing live, the only downer of their show is the omission of ghosts of the past, like Sweater, Ruby Wednesday and Who Sold Her Out, the songs that made us fall in love with these guys in the first place, but apart from that, a fine show indeed, a great night had by all.