While there are plenty of Aussies that consider test cricket a form of summer torture, Future Of The Left fans have the Ashes series to thank for luring the noise-rock band to these shores.
And there was no mistaking where the band were, with a jovial crowd filling out Oxford Art Factory (13 January), hoisting VB and Fosters – yes, Fosters – cans in the air with vigour.
The band – featuring former Welsh favourites mclusky members Andrew Falkous and Jack Egglestone, plus Aussie expat Julia Ruzicka on bass – were blessed with great sound, as the venue so often delivers, making their wiry post-punk guitar tones razor sharp, the bass meaty and vocals strong over the surprisingly big sound.
And it’s this sound their records lack – as well as Falkous’s great wit, which was on show throughout this tight, 'greatest hits' set.
Ripping through ‘The Lord Hates A Coward’, ‘Arming Eritrea’, ‘Small Bones Small Bodies’, ‘Miner’s Gruel’, plus a cover of mclusky’s ‘To Hell With Good Intentions’, and finishing the initial set with ‘If AT&T Drank Tea What Would BP Do?’, the band may not have played to a full Art Factory, but they certainly played to an enthusiastic one.
And much of it is due to the band’s tight, frenetic live show.
Falkous, dripping with sweat, snarled his vocals like it was the first time he’d played the songs live, with Ruzicka shredding on the bass and showing just how much their sound relies on her work.
Coming back for a 20-minute encore, Falkous announced that the first song would go for 4 minutes and 9 seconds – or enough time to take a dump and make it back for the epic finale, according to the singer.
They finished in epic style with ‘French Lessons/Singing of the Bonesaws/Lapsed Catholics/Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues’.
While the crowd was suitably well lubricated and raucous, Falkous still had everyone eating out the palm of his hand. When he demanded silence for the quiet, one-minute intro of the final piece, he actually got it.
Total quiet at a gig on a warm, summer Saturday night in Sydney? That’s as impressive as how convincingly Australia won the Ashes.
Click here to read our review of Future Of The Left's 2018 Brisbane show.
