While Grinspoon are embarking on a 20th anniversary tour, it is not an exercise in nostalgia.
Nostalgia is a reminiscence of the glory days. The glory days are here. Grinners, even in their prime, have never sounded as good live as they do now.
This tour is a celebration of Phil Jamieson’s triumph over addiction; it is an opportunity to witness an incarnation of the band that sounds as good on stage as they did in the studio.
In the '90s and noughties, the Lismore four-piece’s live sets were often a hot mess. Buying a ticket to a gig was like playing Russian roulette; which Phil will turn up? How wasted will he be? Sure it was entertaining, or at the very least interesting, in the way that I imagine watching a public execution would be captivating; a front row view of an individual’s self-destruction.
Click here for more photos from the show.
In 2017, Phil, having defeated his demons, is lean and lucid; articulate and vocally immaculate; sober and suave. The frontman, backed with brutal precision by his ever-reliable bandmates, delivered blistering renditions of the 16 ball-tearing tracks that comprise their debut album, before encoring with a handful of their other hits.
By show’s end, the venue’s hard, concrete floor was strewn with beer and sweat-soaked red confetti, with perhaps a trace of blood extracted from the bevy of crowd surfers.
Image © Sharayah Brown
‘Guide To Better Living’, the band’s debut LP, is undoubtedly the heaviest material of their career. The crunch and howl of much of the album is best classified as alt-metal. Tracks like ‘Pressure Tested 1984’, ‘Pedestrian’ and ‘Champion’, amplified with heft, rattled the ribcage.
Their destiny as stadium rockers, though, was evident on the early hits such as ‘Just Ace’ and ‘Don’t Go Away’. Phil explained that the former track was written as an apology to his partner at the time for his drunken antics at an award ceremony. He was a consummate showman, dancing like a marionette, prancing like a gazelle and holding court like a raconteur when the music stopped.
The hidden track at the end of their ‘Guide’ was unexpectedly performed at the back of the venue, forcing the vocalist to then hightail it back to the stage in time for the opening riff of their biggest hit ‘Chemical Heart’.
Image © Sharayah Brown
By the end of the show ending ‘More Than You Are’, voices were hoarse and middle-aged limbs ached.
As supports, Hocked Dad and Good Boy both served up raw and raucous riffs but were perhaps slightly overawed by the vast expanse of stage at their disposal. On this tour, some of Grinspoon’s swagger and strut will undoubtedly rub off onto the next generation.
Given the overwhelming response to this current tour, we can only hope that Grinspoon will return to the studio and perhaps, with luck, to the heavy-hitting style that made them famous.
Click here for more photos from the show.
