There is no doubting The Whitlams know how to put on a good show.
Supported by Gold Coast outfit Taylor, the crowd at The Shed (11 August) on the Sunshine Coast was pumped and ready to sing 25 years' worth of Whitlams hits along with Tim, Jack and Warwick. David Hibbard stood in for Terepai on drums (Terepai was off drumming for Rodriguez), while Jack danced and moved his way around the stage with no shortage of energy.
Taylor warmed the crowd up with original songs including standouts such as 'Gemma' and 'Cut And Run'. As someone who is not always a fan of support acts (to many times it feels like a soundcheck on steroids before the main event), I was suitably impressed with the quality of music on offer.
After a short break, The Whitlams took the stage and started with the instantly recognisable 'Blow Up The Pokies' from the first note from frontman Tim Freedman on keyboard. Tim’s distinctive Australian vocals enticed the audience to join in on the piano-driven songs such as 'Fondness Makes The Heart Grow Absent' and the Charlie Trio.
The Whitlams were also joined on stage by guest muso Sean O’Boyle on clarinet, the man responsible for orchestral arrangements of many of their songs.
Tim and co. make performing look effortless, while in truth Tim was experiencing some serious pain after having neck surgery. In true Tim Freedman style, he popped a couple of pain killers, downed a glass of wine and declared himself to be some kind of Buddhist rock god behind the keyboard: calm on the outside, but dancing like mad on the inside.
As always, there was a drunken request from the crowd for 'I Make Hamburger's, and Tim obliged saying it wouldn’t be a Whitlams concert without such a request.
The band played non-stop and after playing 'You Sound Like Lois Burdett' followed by 'I Will Not Go Quietly', they declared it the end of the show. As always, though, the crowd was treated to one more song, and Tim and the band returned to the stage to crank out a song from the very beginning of The Whitlams’ story, 'Gough'.
It was a brilliant show that left me buzzing for the hours that followed.
