Thursday 8 September 2022 at The Gov
Review – Geoff Jenke
Photos – Robert McArthur
It is good to see people of Adelaide supporting live music again. Last Sunday saw The Gov about three quarter full for The Church and on a cold wet Thursday night, Thirsty Merc drew an even bigger crowd.
Celebrating 20 years, Thirsty Merc have a new album out, Celebration, which features reimagined covers of well-known Australian songs. The release of the album also coincided with this tour, which commenced in July.
First up we had local band Lola on the stage. Oh, to be young and energetic again. Dressed in white shirts and skinny black ties, their show was high energy rock n roll. The sound is Australian “punk”, and I use that in a lose way. Think 90’s bands, Living End and Jebediah to name just a couple. It has been a long long time since I have seen a front man throw himself around so much and all the while playing a guitar. Well done Billy Burns. And the rest of the band were not far behind him.
They started with What’s the Point, a mosh pit song we were told and it proved correct. There seemed to be a hard core following at the front of the stage and later we were told by Billy “that’s our brother and sisters, mum and dads and cousins and other cousins.” They did a version of Paul Kelly’s Dumb Things in a way Paul would never have seen coming and an even faster version of Living End’s Second Solution, than Living End have probably ever done. But between the covers were a heap of really good originals including Black Lung and F*k It.
It was good to see a young band on stage doing their “stuff”, but more importantly doing it well.
With spotlights playing out over the audience, Thirsty Merc hit the stage and straight into My Completeness and without a break The Good Life and The Hard Way. It was only when Rai Thistlethwayte moved to keyboard that he started talking to the audience. “We are going to play an old song, but it is the sing-a-long version so hope you join in” and started playing Someday, Someday to the delight of the audience, not that they needed winning over as they went ballistic during the first three songs. Rai is not just a great singer but also a great front man with his banter during the evening and he knew how to work a crowd.
The singles Mousetrap Heart and Tommy and Krista were rolled out, with a drum solo from Ben Vanderwal during Mousetrap Heart, before I Wish Somebody Would Build a Bridge (So I Can Get Over Myself) from the debut album was played, fast and furious.
A mis-start to what was to become the highlight of the evening in Wasting Time, one of the first songs they ever released. The song showed how good the band were, complete with Matt Smith giving us a taste of his guitar skills during the tune.
Phones lit up for 20 Good Reasons (phones still cannot replace lighters “back in the day”) and In the Summertime closed a too short of a set.
A strange choice in a cover of John Williamson’s 1989 song Rip, Rip, Woodchip actually had a few people heading for the door, which for them was a shame because they missed the excellent closer DNA. I thought Georgie Girl in memory of Judith Durham, which is also on their new album, may have been a better choice than Woodchip.
My only slight issue is the actual time the band played. Only about thirteen songs in just around 75 minutes. The support band played more songs (although to be fair in around 45 minutes). But there is no denying the popularity of Thirsty Merc. The chatter from people going out was positive and the merch stall was doing a great trade.
Even I bought a stubby holder, that is how good the night was! A Celebration indeed.
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