Chocolate Starfish plays INXS “Kick” – The Gov, Friday 7^th September 2018

Fans were treated to a great solo acoustic set by support act Jimmy Meghan. He had the crowd cheering to some great covers including the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Cold Chisel and The Rolling Stones.

When Chocolate Starfish hit the stage they soon showed why they have the reputation as one of the best live bands in Australia. The ‘Fish powered on to the Australian music scene in the early 1990s and quickly secured themselves as an influential force boasting two Top 10 albums and six Top 50 singles.

They went through the Kicks album in track number sequence making each song their own by subtle touches without detracting from the original. Front man Adam Thompson really gets the crowd involved then draws on their energy to make for a vibrant and enjoyable show. He had the crowd eating out of his hand from the opening song “Guns in the Sky” and followed up with excellent versions of a couple of classics in “New Sensation” and “Devil Inside” featuring some great guitar from Zakk Zedras.

The fourth track off the album “Need You Tonight” was a highlight for me and even captured some of the Michael Hutchence magic. When it came to “Mediate” Thompson put his own spin on it and read the lyrics from a large book, as if reading a sermon, and added a few of his own thoughts.

He then gave a little insight into a broken heart following a gig at Lenny’s Tavern in Glenelg many years ago and revealed, you guessed it, she had a red dress and long black hair … so he launched into “The Loved One”. Talk about making a song your own!!

My equal favourite track for the night was an outstanding version of  “Never Tear Us Apart” with an awesome soulful saxophone solo by Pete Mitchell. Adam introduced the song with another story of his supposed relationships with all the Minogues – Kylie, Dannii … and their mother?!?

It was pretty hard to find fault in Chocolate Starfish’ renditions of any of the tracks as they worked their way through the final four songs “Mystify”, the rollicking title track “Kick” (with some more great sax), “Calling All Nations” and a great finale with “Tiny Daggers”. The band was having a ball throughout with Zakk, Pete and bass guitarist John Nixon regularly “bonding” with keyboardist Norm Falcon and drummer Darren Danielson.

After a brief break they kicked off the encore with another INXS favourite “Listen Like Thieves”. The packed house was then treated to some Starfish classics -perennial favourite “Four Letter Word”, original hit “Mountain” then their infamous cover of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” which somehow had some Kylie Minogue “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head” interspersed in the middle! A packed Gov crowd joined in with a bonus song “What’s Up” (4 Non-Blondes).

Overall a night of great energy and sensational music – thanks Chocolate Starfish and can’t wait to see what you bring to The Gov next time!

Words by John Glennie