Angels & Airwaves - Luna ParkBig Top, Sydney (20/10/06)

Sun 22nd Oct, 2006 in Gig Reviews

It’s been nigh on two years since the break up of Blink 182, but that hasn’t seemed to dampen the dedication of their legions of fans, particularly in Sydney. Come 7pm, half an hour before the doors were even open and the line up had extended almost all the way to the ghastly face that gobbles up all those wishing to enter Luna Park. That’s almost 150 metres!

Tonight was a night dominated by 13-15 year olds, and if you weren’t one of them you were either suspending reality to pretend Dude Ranch had just been released, or you were there to make sure your child’s first concert experience wasn’t going to be the dangerous affair you had envisaged.

The tweens, of course, were there to witness first hand the promised spectacle of Tom Delonge’s new band, Angels & Airwaves (AVA). But before their idol had even set a foot on stage, support came in the form of a band by the name of Mink. These guys shot to “fame” when singer Neal Carson became a finalist on reality TV show Rockstar: INXS.

Neal struts around stage like a wannabe Perry Farrel, with a vocal style somewhere between Julian Casablancas (The Strokes) and Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones). Unfortunately his live performance doesn’t put him in the league of any of them.

The rest of the band didn’t help a lot either, with guitarist David Lowy missing several notes through the set. These guys would be much better suited to a club, their stage show just hasn’t developed to a large capacity venue such as this, despite the highly energetic efforts of Neal. Given a bit more time to develop their live show, these guys have potential, but right now they just aren’t showing it.

Despite the below-par performance, Mink managed to get an enthusiastic crowd of pre-teens down the front moving and waving their arms along in excitement. I don’t think many of them actually had any clue of who Mink were, but when you’re witnessing your first ever live act and are pumped to see you idol, I guess anything will get you excited.

9:45 rolls around, the lights dim and the samples start. Was this really going to be the never-forget, “float in the air” religious experience Tom promised us down the phone line from his San Diego residence but only two weeks ago? Many were sceptical, but enthusiastic to give him a fair chance.

Opening up with The Adventure, they pulled out pretty much all the material off their single release to date, including other big hits in the form of The Gift, and an unusually heavy song for this outfit in the form of Do It For Me Now. As promised, Tom and co. also performed a rendition of one of his former band’s last hits, I Miss You. Toned down, slowed down and Mark Hoppus’ parts removed, it was an interesting, yet uninspiring version.

As to be expected this really was the Tom Delonge show. It’s quite a pity, considering the arsenal he possesses, in the form of Atom Willard, Ryan Sinn and David Kennedy. Despite this, the remaining members appear nonchalant to the fact, and appear happy to be lost somewhere in the background.

The whiney vocals, thankfully, have been toned down, and to a lesser extent the jokes as well, though I’m sure the parents in the crowd weren’t too happy at all the swearing, and some rather unwholesome story telling (bikes with no seats, booby groping, hands down pants… you get the picture).

At times the show felt like Hillsong had struck a sponsorship deal with Tom, his between song banter becoming almost preacher like. When he described the shows as almost a religious experience, he wasn’t joking! He parades the stage, telling kids that they have the potential to do anything they want, that his new band is “not just another shitty pop band, not just another rock band you whistle along to in the car on your way home,” that he, they, and the crowd gathered were there as a part of a much bigger picture. I was expecting him to drag up some injured kid from the crowd, put a hand on the head of the poor little tacker and yell in to the microphone “YOU ARE HEALED!,” like a black Southern American preacher.

The music is not as intellectually stimulating as he might like to have you believe. The shows aren’t that unbelievably fantastic that you will never forget them. But at the very least, they weren’t as uninspiring to watch as many had expected.

As for shows that make you float in the air? Tom needs to work on transporting his audience into outer space first.

Check out the photos from the gig here