Boom Crash Opera @ The Gov, 3rd May ’14
Boom! Crash! Opera! It was a small die hard following that assembled to watch one of Australia’s greats play a greatest hits and memories set coupled with some unexpected new tunes. It’s great to see a number of eighties heroes make a valiant resurgence now which goes a long way to proving that good music will never die.
Max Savage and The False Idols opened proceedings and it seemed like a tough gig for these guys as the majority seemed largely uninterested. A great shame to be honest as these guys were rock solid, playing their brand of country Americana soul. Front man Max Savage plays with much gusto and bravado and is one to check out again sometime.
Bang on ten thirty Boom Crash Opera took to the stage to much applause and adulation. It isn’t until you see this band play that you realise how many great songs they have in the armoury. Opening numbers can’t get any bigger than the “Hey! Hey, Hey!” of Great Wall which got everyone a little excited and fired up at the same time. Dale Ryder says good evening Adelaide and says all the Adelaide girls have grown up before rocking in to Get Of The House and Love Me To Death. The way these guys went about their set was almost like they had something to prove backed by Peter Farnan’ comment
We are still Boom Crash Opera, it will be a long show with new songs and you’ll have to go with us.
New tune You Can’t Stop The Sun sounded good but there were plenty more surprises to come.
Boom Crash Opera’s bankable discography is a real treasure trove of greatness particularly with the likes of Dancing In The Storm and Gimme going down a treat. Another new tune Colour Of Love was touted as an R&B you can dance to. I think it is a big risk playing new stuff that most people by-in-large haven’t heard before but on the same hand it is great that they’re still being creative delivering new tunes. Continuing the theme of new material I Am was a ripper and has some terrific anthemic qualities to it, almost like a call to arms vibe.
The shameless plug came from Farnan with their box set titled Rattle It Out (all three albums remixed and remastered with an extra disc of unreleased material called The Lost Things) prompting the response
We used to be a fucked up corporate rock band and we have a CD of unreleased stuff.
Isn’t It Love was one of those and following this one Ryder said he needed a rest and headed off stage. Farnan took over vocal duties playing Dissemble about families, separation and children of blended families. Later saying this was one of their least successful singles.
Continuing in the indulgent vain Ryder and Farnan serenaded each other singing You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling with Farnan saying it was all about Ryder but the next song was all about him. The acoustic tune I’m not Like You was a pretty good snap shot of how one band member views another. No set is complete without a raffle and there were prizes that were given out to ticket holders which was a nice bonus.
Ryder wanted to mix it up and took a slight deviation from the set list included Her Charity and In The Morning. It was time to dance again with Bettadaze which morphed in to a jam that included Young Girls Are My Weakness. The remaining songs in the set were Best Thing and Onion Skin making for a barnstorming end to their set. Returning for an encore kicking off with Rattle It Out followed by Hands Up In The Air wrapped up a great evening. Ryder closing with the most insightful comment all night saying
Thank you, this makes us feel great, makes us feel young again!
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
