Brisbane's The Triffid on a Wednesday night was home to a '90s reunion of sorts.
Crash Test Dummies and their fans in Australia finally got to reunite after 33 years apart (2 April).Although first, the crowd were warmed up by Brisbane locals CityPiss, an unlikely duo that played what appeared to be a cut-down version of their tracks with two members on guitar.
Their well-crafted tracks, including 'Cocaine Baby' and 'Leave Your Sh.t Behind You', were a fun way to start the night and the vocal harmonies between the two members were slick and worth admiring.
Four albums down after just four years together, this group have something worth checking out if not for their entertaining album and song titles and a tongue-in-cheek attitude.
Crash Test Dummies have never been a cool band. Formed in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1988, the band could be placed in the REM and Counting Crows category for not-very-hip-but-awesome-to-listen-to music.
Their popularity peaked with the release of their eponymous song without a word in the title, but they are so much more than one song and tonight confirmed it.
The tour is intended to be the 30th anniversary tour for their iconic second album, 'God Shuffled His Feet', but the show served as a vehicle for them to play a range of tracks, not just from that album but their whole catalogue. For a band that has not graced Australian shores in 33 years, we were thankful for the range!
Starting with one of their oldest songs, 'The Ghosts That Haunt Me', the band were straight on form. The lead singer with the iconic voice, Brad Roberts immediately stood out with his booming baritone rattling the ribcages throughout the venue and despite not having as much hair as he used to, offered a youthful glow onstage in opposition to his 61 years.
Harking back to their (almost) original line-up of Brad Roberts, his brother Dan on bass, Ellen Reid on vocals, accordion and percussion plus Mitch Dorge on drums, they were joined by Leith Fleming-Smith on keys and Stuart Cameron on lead guitar. It's no simple feat to feature your original members after 30 years as a band and it's testament to their friendship they could all get back together again.
If you lived your teenage years with CDs and a desperation for alternative music, 'God Shuffled His Feet' was always near the top of the pile despite the prevalence of grunge.
There has always been something comforting about the dulcet tones of Crash Test Dummies that served as a respite from the acerbic and angry music that surrounded it, and for the scores of over 45-year-olds in the audience, the band obviously still holds a special place in their memories too.
Following a couple of deeper cuts from the record, 'How Does A Duck Know?' and 'I Think I'll Disappear Now', the title track appeared along with the gorgeous 'Swimming In Your Ocean'. The band effortlessly flowed through the gorgeous melodic variations in each song as the crowd sang along.
The middle of the set featured two covers, with Ellen Reid stepping up to beautifully capture XTC's 'The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead' (after singing 'Happy Birthday' to Bec in the crowd and telling the crowd "rock out moderately") as well as The Replacement's 'Androgynous'.
'Superman's Song', from their debut album, still feels iconic and reminds us all to go back and listen to the first album, which we should remember came out just weeks after REM's 'Out Of Time', and well and truly fits into that mould of 1991 just before grunge well and truly blew everything apart.
The band seemed happy and comfortable all night with Brad often smiling at the crowd, Ellen chiming in with her gorgeous and timely harmonies, and the rest of the band interacting like they were truly happy to be there.
Their latest song, 'Sacred Alphabet', served as a final entrée to 'Afternoons & Coffeespoons' a track that still evokes joy amongst the crowd who sang along with gusto.
After a very short interval, the band returned for an encore that featured one of the highlights of the night. "Can you kindly shut the f... up for once," smirked Roberts as he returned to the stage.
Following a bit of "shhhh" and chatter, the crowd finally did as the duo of Brad Roberts and Stuart Cameron performed 'Heart Of Stone' from their 2010 'Oooh La La!' record. It was a gorgeous moment to have The Triffid silent with the clear vocal of the excellent song echoing around the room.
The following two songs were anything but quiet as a keytar solo from Fleming-Smith in 'He Liked To Feel It' evoked big smiles from the band and the crowd and the finale of 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm' warmly filled the room.
It was a hearty, soul-restoring night of music from a band that many may have been seeing for the first time in their lives. While the music will live on through our CDs and memories, the fact they're still touring and making music after 30 years is a great thing. You don't have to be cool to be great.
