With The Dandy Warhols & Even
Tuesday 20 September 2022 at the AEC.
Review –
Geoff Jenke
Photos – Tony Polese (Even photo –
Geoff Jenke)
The Hoodoo Gurus 40th Anniversary Tour fell afoul several times, of a certain bug traversing the world. Dave Faulkner of Hoodoo Gurus says “We just want to offer our heartfelt thanks to Frontier Touring, as well as The Dandy Warhols ad their management. Out last-minute COVID emergency put everyone in a “World of Pain” (shameless plug) and it took a small army of people working overtime to get this tour back on track”. The delay has meant the 40th Anniversary Tour is now in fact the 41st Anniversary Tour. The main thing however is, they finally made it to Adelaide.
Even have been playing around Australia this past year a lot, supporting their latest album Reverse Lightyears. This is their third trip to Adelaide this year alone, even if this was as support band to The Hoodoo Guru’s. Starting out as the usual 3-piece, they launched into Six Monkeys and the song, as Ash told us came, “from the summer of love, 1998”, Black Umbrella.
Ash also told us to make a lot of noise between songs, as the show was being recorded for a “possible live album, sometime in the next 20 years”. Guitarist Anton Ruddick joined the band for a selection of songs off the brilliant Reverse Lightyears, Dandy Stomp, Gold Sunday and Chase the Sunset before a blistering version of Rock N Roll Save my Life. All too soon it was all over. One can never get enough of Even live.

It was good news The Dandy Warhols were also still able to make the tour. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. in 1994, The Dandy’s came to Australian attention with the single Everyday Should Be a Holiday in 1997 and grabbed our full attention with the album Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia. The Dandy Warhols are regular visitors to Adelaide and this evening they put in a solid 50 minutes of their more well-known songs, a good move to try and win over those in the audience just here to see The Hoodoo Guru’s.
With the four members of the band set across the front of the stage, including the drummer, the guitar drenched set started with Godless and We Used to be Friends, before a long beautiful trippy psych out on I Love You. Zia McCabe effortlessly was switching from keyboards to bass to tambourine throughout the set and front man Courtney Taylor-Taylor let the music do the talking, with only a quick thank you to the Hoodoo’s for having them on tour the only words he said to the audience. Finishing the set with Bohemian Like You and a blistering Boys Better, the Dandy’s won over the crowd.

On a cold, wet Tuesday night, Adelaide came out in force to see The Hoodoo Gurus. The theatre at the Entertainment Centre was full of people with smiles on their faces, in anticipation of finally seeing their band after several reschedules.
It maybe 40 plus years since The Hoodoo Guru’s started but they sound as fresh as the day they started. Dave Faulkner’s distinctive voice echoes around the room, while Brad Shepherd provided the perfect harmonies on many songs. Brad joined in 1982 so maybe this was the 40-year anniversary they were touring.
Kicking off with World of Pain from the new album Chariot of the Gods followed by Tojo from their first album Stoneage Romeos way back in 1984, then playing the single The Right Time, set the scene for the evening, old and new, singles and album tracks all in the mix.
It was also obvious for the start, this is a band that love what they are doing, playing rock n roll for the masses. Death Defying received a loud response from the crowd before they dug deep into the album Kinky for, I Think You Know followed by Zanzibar from Stoneage Romeos. A slight guitar issue meant a slight deviation from the set list with Dave announcing “I think we will play this song instead”. Instead of what, we didn’t find out but Get Out of Dodge was excellent.
I Want You Back, My Girl, Come Anytime kept the audience happy and then Brad swapped his guitar for harmonica, playing a real mean harp during the song Poison Pen. Brad then took over lead vocals on I Come from Your Future and while a new song, is a nod to their garage sounds of yesteryear.
Bittersweet headed the band to a grand finale. Miss Freelove ’69 was played with a frenzied pace far removed from the studio version. 1000 Miles Away is surely an Australian classic song and the set closer I Was a Kamikaze Pilot nearly bought the roof down with bass player Richard Grossman stalking the stage elegantly.

Of course, they weren’t finished yet. Coming back for the encore, Dave thanked everyone who made this tour possible, from support bands through to us, the audience. “This is our theme song from way back” said Dave introducing Be My Guru with “new boy” in the band, drummer Nik Rieth hitting the drums hard and fast.
What’s My Scene and Like Wow – Wipeout closed the show perfectly. One could lament on songs missed out but that is being trivial. We had been treated to one of Australia’s finest rock bands in the history of Australian rock bands and the fact they are still around after 40 years, we are grateful for.
Let’s hope other bands put together line-ups like this. All three bands were excellent and for those who decided to sit outside for Even (and yes, even The Dandy Warhols), what were you thinking?
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