Live Review– Birds of Tokyo– The Gov Thursday 12 September 2019
Words Geoff Jenke
It seems incredible that Birds of Tokyo have been around for 15 years, having formed in Perth in 2004 as a side project for Ian Kenny, lead singer of metal band Karnavool. Birds of Tokyo have slipped nicely into the gap left when Powderfinger split. It has been nearly three years since Birds of Tokyo have done a full national tour but with their new track Good Lordriding high in the charts it was time to hit the road. The Birds sold out two nights at The Gov, such is there popularity in Adelaide.
First up on stage was Samsurahwith her explosive band, performing no holds, hard hitting rock and roll. She let the music do the talking, only acknowledging the audience near the end of the set. The songs she sings are powerful and she has the extremely powerful voice to back the songs. Samsurah has already played some of the biggest festival stages in Australia. At this rate she will be headlining her own major tour soon.
The crowd in attendance for Birds of Tokyowould not have been disappointed with the set list, with every song played having been released as a single, making this a sort of Birds of Tokyo” Greatest Hits” tour. They opened with White Witchfrom the 2008 album Universes with a “long time since we played that one” comment after the song. The stage was set up with full theatre light show, which worked nicely in the confines of The Gov. There were a heap of screens on the stage and when they lit up, they created an atmosphere like I have not seen at the Gov before.
Empirecame early and really got the crowd going. For most of the evening front man Ian Kenny just let the music do the talking. Birds of Tokyo songs are anthems which songs like Broken Bones, Wild Eyed Boy, Anchor andCircles confirm.
The run to finish the main set started with the 2018,Unbreakable, the song chosen as the theme for the 2018 Invictus Games held in Sydney. Ian Kenny just had to hold his arms out and the crowd sang along with the band. Lanternsis just a great classic song; it needs no introduction. If you don’t know it, look it up and you too will become hooked with The Birds.
The latest single Good Lordclosed out the main set. The song, maybe one the best Birds of Tokyo songs ever, has already gone Gold in Australia. Encore consisted of another new great song in The Greatest Mistakefollowed by 2012’s This Fire. The stage goes dark and the band leave. No farewell, none needed. They had just played one of the best sets I have seen this year.
Set List
White Witch / Empire / I’d Go With you Anywhere / Broken Bones / Wild Eyed Boy / Anchor / Circles / Plans / Silhouettic / Brace / Wild at Heart / Wayside / Unbreakable / Lanterns / Good Lord / The Greatest Mistake / This Fire
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