The Drones @ The Gov, 2nd May ’16

The Drones hit Adelaide to a packed house in much anticipation to highly touted seventh album Feelin’ Kinda Free which is all over Triple J at the minute.

There is no disputing the fact that The Drones are an acquired taste and not background music at a dinner but holy shit these guys are so intriguing they demand attention. Something has to be said about the intensity of their performance and sheer lyrical brilliance that keeps fans coming back for more. It was one of the shows where the band played an awesome set for the best part of ninety minutes and getting to the end it was like, is that all?

It was a low key build up and the band entered through a darkened haze and pulling plenty of punches Gareth Liddiard and company tore through Private Execution. Continuing the theme of playing the new album it was Taman Shud that followed. Wowsers! This one was an absolute bruiser. Liddiard casually thanked the crowd for coming down and hanging out and the vibe picked up on The Minotaur from 2008s Havilah album.

It was hard not noticing the energy on stage and this sense of rejuvenation having a new album to play and being one of the first stops on the tour, clearly the shackles were off and living up to the mantra of the album title. New single Boredom was great and the addition of Steve Hesketh on keys adds another string to The Drones bow. Liddiard said they would persevere almost expecting the technical difficulties that comes with being the first show on the tour.

New album tracks To Think That I Once Loved You and Then They Came For Me were great with the crowd responding to favourites such as I See Seaweed and Jezebel then closing out the set with Shut Down SETI. Expected the unexpected and who would have seen this killer encore coming. FARK!!! I Am The Supercago from the Havilah album got a rousing reception and was one of the big moments in the set. Liddiard doesn’t need to pad the set out with idle chit chat leaving the intensity of the performance do all the talking. Bringing things to an end with the Kev Carmody cover River Of Tears was just superb. Great show and plenty of motivation to head out and pick up a copy of Feelin’ Kinda Free.

Set List
Private Execution
Taman Shud
The Minotaur
Boredom
To Think That I Once Loved You
Then They Came For Me
I See Seaweed
Six Ways To Sunday
Jezebel
Shut Down SETI

Encore
I Am The Supercago
River Of Tears

Author
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Rob Lyon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rob Lyon has been writing about all things music for well over ten years in Adelaide clocking up more live shows each year seeing the best going round.

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.