There are few bands who understand the absurd theatre of rock quite like Electric Six, and on Friday the 13th at Freo.Social they proved once again that their particular brand of sleazy, synth-laced garage disco is still gloriously ridiculous and ridiculously glorious. For a band touring what is essentially a “greatest hits” set, the night felt anything but nostalgic—it was sharp, alive, and delivered with a knowing wink and a slow-burning double-entendre.
Frontman Dick Valentine remains one of rock’s great ringmasters: part vaudeville crooner, part punk provocateur, and utterly larger-than-life. Draped in that beautiful blue snowflake emblazoned jacket and signature lounge-lizard swagger, he stalked the stage like a man hosting the strangest cabaret on earth, tossing out deadpan one-liners between songs. At one point he paused to sincerely thank the crowd for “investing in a Friday night,” a line delivered with such dry sincerity that it perfectly summed up his brilliantly odd humour.
Opening with “Synthesizer” (and sadly synth player -less tonight – making this in effect the ‘Electric Five’) teh band set the tone early—sleazy, pulsing and gloriously tongue-in-cheek—before they rolled effortlessly through cult classics like “Dr. K” and “After Hours.” The beauty of Electric Six is that even the most ridiculous titles come wrapped in razor-sharp grooves and hooks that refuse to leave your head.
“Naked Pictures (of Your Mother)” and “The Hotel Mary Chang” landed with that perfect mix of smirk and swagger, while “Down at McDonnelzzz” reminded everyone that dry wit and satire has always been part of the band’s DNA. It’s trashy, funky, and knowingly silly, but beneath the humour sits a band that can actually play like rock gods.
Of course the room erupted when “Gay Bar” kicked in, immediately followed by the equally absurd sequel “Gay Bar Part Two.” It’s easy to forget how much of Electric Six’s catalogue has seeped into rock’s collective subconscious over the years, but hearing these songs live is a reminder of just how sharp their songwriting really is.
The middle stretch of the set dug deeper with gems like “Improper Dancing,” “Future Is in the Future,” and “(Who the Hell Just) Call My Phone?”—each delivered with that strange cocktail of disco pulse, garage grit and Valentine’s lounge-singer theatrics. “Danger! High Voltage” naturally blew the roof off, proving that some songs simply never lose their spark.
By the time the encore rolled around with “Riding on the White Train,” “Rock and Roll Evacuation,” and the irresistible “Dance Commander,” the crowd was completely locked in, just like they had been at the Rosemount the night before (the band spend today in Darwin Dick tells us). Electric Six may thrive on irony, but the joy in the room was entirely genuine.
With Adelaide up next before the rest of Australia gets its turn, this tour feels like a reminder of just how enduring the band’s strange magic really is. In fact it was so good I walked out and bought one of Dick Valentine’s solo records—because sometimes the best Friday night investment you can make is doubling down on the weird and ending up with an irremovable grin.
