Only in Australia celebrating their 2003 debut 'Fire' during last year's 20th anniversary tour, Electric Six return on what is billed as a 'greatest hits tour' – although with that significant album continuing to be represented more than any of their others in the succeeding years.
Making up for lost time in the years preceding bandleader Dick Valentine's pre-pandemic 'solo' appearance in February 2020 backed up by a local pick-up band, 2023 was the first time in Adelaide for the band since the notoriety of 'Gay Bar' and 'Danger! High Voltage', and they're obviously keen to continue to maintain the existing momentum.The evening (30 August at The Gov) commences with visually arresting locals Dandy Buzzkills, who take the opportunity provided by their support slot to show their potential.
They perform an unholy ramshackle caterwaul of their own material and include a muddy cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's 'The Killing Moon' and an interesting take on The Stranglers' 'Golden Brown', before closing with an explosive, reprised finale that acts as a faux encore to a positively receptive audience; although I suspect that some near the front may have been the band's own cheer squad.
Electric Six's performance is preceded by Dick Valentine's matter of fact introduction: "We have 15 albums. Song number one is off one of them," and they start with the opening couplet from latest album 'Turquoise', Dick then continuing to refer to each song numerically by the position on the set list.
To what extent his idiosyncratic squinting and gravelly rasp is an act we may never know, but let's not overanalyse it; we are here to be entertained and that is exactly what happens with Dick's wit and asides ("Adelaide you are the greatest city in South Australia") a welcome reinforcement to the ironic wordplay of his songs.
Musically, the band don't stray far from the template of straight ahead rock & roll with the hooks and riffs to get you moving if some of the song titles weren't already motivation enough ('Improper Dancing', 'Dance Epidemic' and Sophie Ellis-Bextor's 'Murder On The Dancefloor', and 'Dance Commander' in the encore).
Dick's supporting cast of band members are gradually introduced by their aliases as the much praised guitarist the White Wolf, Dr J on drums, Rick Sharple on bass, and guitarist Herb S Flavourings – whose discarded guitar picks rabid fans scrabble for throughout the set.
At one point I note someone crawling around on all fours on the floor at my feet, while a pick lands in the glass of the woman beside me but she chooses to leave it there until she finishes her drink before she claims her memento.
I concede the attention of some casual observers may have waned between the subversive 'hits' of 'Gay Bar' and 'Danger! High Voltage', with these songs acting as tent poles in a set of songs perhaps mostly unfamiliar to the greater audience. This didn't make the show as a whole any less entertaining, with satisfied diehard fans singing along to nearly every other song.
Latterly, '(Who The Hell Just) Call My Phone' is expertly spliced into a performance of 'Improper Dancing' between Dick's vocal prompts of "stop" and "continue" while 'Synthesizer' is the closest they have to a ballad, and it is during this song that Dick inexplicably encourages not an audience wave but the audience to wave.
With 23 songs performed in 90 minutes, the band do not overstay their welcome. Given their current tour is in relatively quick succession to the last, it probably won't be long before we see them again and that is something I very much look forward to.
