This current Australian tour, the first in more than a decade for Crime & The City Solution concludes with their first appearance in Adelaide, the last show of The Killer tour.
Initially emerging out of the late '70s Melbourne music scene concurrent with The Boys Next Door, Crime & The City Solution rose to prominence in the mid '80s with an incarnation of the band that included core members of The Birthday Party (Mick Harvey and Rowland S. Howard) after the implosion of that band.
This short-lived version of the band appeared along with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds in Wim Wenders' seminal film 'Wings Of Desire' before the core of the band left to become These Immortal Souls.
Another version of the band, including Einsturzende Neubauten's Alexander Hacke, continued on until the turn of the decade. If you are at all versed in the Nick Cave family tree you are probably already aware of the above.
Frontman Simon Bonney attempted a solo career before taking a significant sabbatical from music until reforming the band in 2011 and releasing 'American Twilight' in 2013. Yet another version of the band surfaced in 2022, releasing and touring 'The Killer'.
While former sideman and bandmate Mick Harvey is playing elsewhere tonight as part of a tribute show to the Velvet Underground at The Gov, Joshua Murphy now acts as Bonney's musical director and is the first performer tonight, taking to the stage alone he essential performs his 'Lowlands' EP out of order.
He commences with the moody, spaghetti western themed 'The Fault Was Lain There Too', followed by the slowly layered improvisational exercise of 'Littered With Ghosts' during which he plays his effects pedals like organ keys before 'The Killing Floor', and concludes his short set with 'A Town With No Fear'.
While the audience slowly grew during Murphy's set but tentatively kept their distance, Placement's contrasting ear-opening intro attracted attention and piqued interest immediately.
Their channelling of 'Goo' era Sonic Youth is apparent (and the band would not hesitate to admit the influence), but vocalist Malia Wearn (who can sing well when she chooses to, but often defaults to a spoken-word delivery) takes the band into different territory.
I hesitate to describe Malia as fronting the band, especially as the dynamic Alex Dearman is one actively entertaining guitarist. Any question regarding the gig line-up with Placement incongruously sandwiched between Murphy's solo support slot and Crime & The City Solution's set had been dispelled early on.
With the room filling for the headliners, I look around and recognise faces I haven't seen in years, potentially having come out of gig-going retirement for this long awaited show.
Simon Bonney appropriately greets the audience with "welcome. . . Forty years since I was last here," perhaps referring to the band's '80s incarnation touring generally rather than any previous appearance in Adelaide (as there is no record of the band having played here before).
The first song, 'River Of Blood', is performed as a duo by Bonney and Murphy, the stage lit in subdued black and white, a reminder of the monochromatic style of 'Wings Of Desire'.
Coincidentally, Bonney with his long hair and beard now has more physical commonality with present day Bad Seed Warren Ellis than how he appeared in that film.
Although the band's violinist and Bonney's partner Bronwyn Adams is absent (our recent heatwaves have affected her health – Bonney informs us she has had to go to hospital in two states on this tour), we are treated to an actual band rather than the pared down three piece that has been reported as playing overseas.
Ballarat musicians, former bandmates of Murphy, Tim Bignell on bass and Corey Keem on drums prove themselves to be a suitable rhythm section supporting Bonney's lower register vocal delivery. During the performance of the second song, 'River Of God', as a four piece, it's apparent each incarnation of the band is no less valid than the one before or after.
After these first two songs taken from 'The Killer', there is a dive into the distant past with a performance of 'I Have The Gun', the catchy sing-along chorus of "this road is your road" paraphrasing Woody Guthrie.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are going on a journey. . . and this journey doesn't end well," is Bonney's preceding warning before the epic diatribe that is 'The Bride Ship'.
Giving a seemingly loose but deliberate vocal, Bonney writhes and contorts upright, dispensing with the microphone stand he has until now used as a prop for support.
Throughout the performance, Bonney is noticeably losing moisture whether it be spittle sprayed during his intense vocalisations or sweat constantly dripping through his beard.
At times he leans over and scrolls on an electronic tablet for lyric prompting. Afterwards, he back announces: "That song's about not believing the advertisement."
Bignell and Keem leave the stage and Bonney dedicates 'Brave Hearted Woman' to the song's subject, "Bronny". The band reconvene to perform a pairing of 'The Last Dictator' 2 and 4, as frantic and intense a workout as any the band will give, performing at breakneck speed in the latter piece. Afterwards Bignell and Keem leave the stage again for a deserved break.
Before commencing the penultimate performance, Bonney concedes: "This one has a happy ending. . . this song is instead of a PhD I was doing," the title song to the last album 'The Killer'.
He starts the song kneeling onstage before gradually rising as the song builds, a demonstration of the power that can be conveyed by the duo alone.
The audience deserve an encore given their call for one and the band return, performing a single song 'Goddess' from their belated 'American Twilight' album, a final burst of energy from the band in a set that was short (just over an hour) but felt like there was more.
It was a long time coming for Crime & The City Solution to give a show that will play in my mind for a long time to come.
