INXS

with TRAIN, BABY ANIMALS & The Damien Cripps Band
KING'S PARK, PERTH
THURSDay 3 FEBRUARY 2011

 

The ‘Evening on the Green’ people really have their modus operandi down to a tee – put some great acts (some of whom may be a little past their chart-bothering prime) into a glorious outdoors venue in the height of the Aussie summer, to a big crowd of enthusiastic punters eager to reminisce about their glory days and the great tunes they grew up to, then send everyone home happy.

 

Tonight’s show is no exception, and kicks off with the Damien Cripps Band, who rock along amiably as the multitudes file in and set up their blankets and picnic baskets.

 

An early start to The Baby Animals' set meant a mad dash and I only just made it to the front as they kicked into ‘Painless’.

 

 

I have to say that the running to the front camera-in-hand exercise was well worth it, Suze’s voice has diminished little over the years and the band pulls together an enjoyable, if brief, set to warm up the crowd that will eventually reach sell-out capacity.

 

 

Highlights of the set included great versions of ‘Painless’ and ‘One Word’ but it was ‘Early Warning’ with a heavier bass than the original and an updated solo that seemed to have aged best of all. There was talk from Suze of the “soon to be released album” we seem to have been waiting on for a very long while now.

 

 

It’s great to also end on a high with the chugging riff to ‘One Too Many’ getting a few more of the crowd on their feet and closer ‘Ain't Gonna Get’ seeing Suze sat on the edge of the stage and then ditching the guitar rolling on the floor, very Jim Morrison… before leaving us with “I love you Perth: now go and get a drink”.

 

 

 

TRAIN surprised us with a blast of Led Zeppelin late in their set, but their heartfelt pastoral gambol through ‘Ramble On’ served mainly to show up the majority of the rest of their set as the soulless cookie-cutter American radio friendly Matchbox 20-lite it is. A lot of people were singing along, granted, and set closer ‘Dreams of Jupiter’ is a legitimately good song that had most of the crowd singing and foot tapping, but the likes of ‘Calling All Angels’, ‘San Francisco’ and ‘Soul Sister’ are all overly generic.

 

 

 

A lengthy wait ensued for the 6,500 strong sell-out crowd, but to a man and woman they roared when the lights dimmed and the intro tape set the mood before the staccato harmonica bursts signalled the start of ‘Suicide Blonde’.

 

 

 

 

There’s the temptation to view INXS 2011 as little more than ageing out-of-touch rockers trading on past glories by playing karaoke with a reality TV-Ken doll singer, but tonight’s performance shows the band to be as tight as hell and as sharp as they ever where, and J.D. Fortune a very capable Michael Hutchence replica, with charisma and verve to spare at the front of the stage.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite their poor 2010 album of “reworkings and reimagining’s of classic INXS songs”, “Original Sin”, tonight’s acoustic interlude of ‘Don’t Change’ and ‘Stay With Me’ were quite enjoyable – though certainly no-one was displeased when ‘Don’t Change’ made another appearance in it’s original form as the last song of the night!

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a Village People hat party moment when Mediate turns from tape to live, with Tim Farriss, J.D. Fortune and Andrew Farriss donning a CHiPS style motorbike cop helmet, a furry animal head and a cowboy hat respectively, for reasons left unsaid, but it’s all rock n’ roll, I guess!

 

 

 

 

 

In a nutshell, the reworked songs proved a pleasant diversion, but it’s the classics that people have come to see – and INXS certainly delivered them stylishly in this hit-packed set.

 

 

 

Words by Shane Pinnegar and Mark Diggins

 

Images by Mark Diggins