Report: Greg Phillips. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
Last night, Marshall launched the Australian version of their Keep Live Music Alive campaign, presenting a free concert at Fitzroy’s Punters Club featuring the mighty You Am I. Australian Musician was there capture all the action.
The Concept
The iconic Marshall amplification company has begun a campaign of free gigs, with the first Australian activation of its global Keep Live Music Alive commitment, focussing on backing grassroots venues, artists and local music communities. Free live music for the people, can’t argue with that!
The Band
Not Tropical Fuck Storm! Originally booked to launch the first Australian Marshall Keep Live Music Alive gig, sadly TFS bass player Fiona Kitschin had a nasty accident last week and badly damaged her ankles, meaning that the band could not appear last night. We all wish Fiona well in her recovery. On a positive note, besties You Am I stepped in as replacement band.
The Venue
The Punters Club! Where better to launch a celebration of live music. During its original run, it developed a reputation as one of the city’s premier live music venues, smack bang in the middle of Brunswick St, Fitzroy … the epicentre of cool. The venue closed its doors as a live venue in 2002 and reopened later as a pizza bar. Then triumphantly the Punters Club remerged as a live music venue again in 2024… and here we are, back where it should be!
The Gig
Entry to the free Keep Live Music Alive gig was based on a first-in, first-served registration process. Apparently around 2,000 registrations were received and 300-400 lucky punters secured their tight spot inside.
Doors to the night’s gig were listed as opening at 8pm, however many had arrived early, spilling out onto the Brunswick Street pavement on a gorgeous Melbourne Spring afternoon. Inside, the band teased with sporadic soundchecks, with various members strolling on and off stage, tuning and riffing guitars and striking drumheads.
Finally, Tim Rogers took to the microphone around 8.45pm to explain the Fiona Kitschin TFS situation, with a heartfelt speech about the much loved bass player and the band itself, as Davey Lane ripped into the legendary, chunky guitar intro to “Berlin Chair”… and we were away! Andy Kent’s thumping bass then kicked into a sweaty version of “Minor Byrd” from the classic HiFi Way album. The energetic “Junk” and “Get Up” followed, ending in a rapturous reception from the crowd, sensing that they were experiencing something very special. “We’ll be playing music of the rock ’n’ roll oeuvre tonight,” explained Rogers to an appreciative audience as drummer Rusty Hopkinson led us into a rockin’ “Billy”.
“The Applecross Wing Commander” was up next, indicating that we were in for a fair spread of material from the vast You Am I catalogue. As the band jammed, superbly utilising feedback to find a dirty edge, the crowd energy rose, resulting in the perfect rock ’n’ roll storm. This is what live music is all about, a band losing themselves in the music while the audience completely understands their brief, adding even more vitality to the powerful moment. In a backhand compliment to Davey Lane, Rogers told the guitarist that they were just Northern City wankers before he joined the band, to which the larrikin audience responded with a chant of ‘Wankers”. It seemed like the perfect time for a crowd singalong as the band strummed into a joyous “How Much is Enough”.
“This looks very, very, very right,” Tim Rogers said to the sea of faces looking back at him from the Punters Club floor. Playfully mocking us with a few bars of Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” was a cocky way to propel the band into the immortal “Cathy’s Clown”. Then sensing the crowd’s enthusiasm for a sing, a quick band chat from Tim resulted in a detour off the setlist to take us into a high-spirited “Mr Milk”, announced as a song as “for the lactose intolerant”. In telling us that the band had been writing some great new music, Tim suggested that this would be the “last time we’ll be playing some of these songs”. We hope his opinion softens, particularly as the ensuing song was “Purple Sneakers”, in my mind one of the finest Australian songs ever written and last night’s version, with that audience, in that room, was compelling. Thanking the “gig nerds” in the audience who continually show up, Tim reckoned it was time to boogie and bounced into a feisty “Rumble’ from the band’s #4 album. Ending the set with an epic, surprise version of ELO’s “10538”, the band exited the stage to a haze of feedback. You Am I left us in the same fashion they welcomed us … electric, energetic, vital, Australian pub rock ’n’ roll fun. Big bands in small venues, can’t beat it! Perfect fodder for future pub chats. Remember when You Am I played the Punters? We were there!
SET LIST
Berlin Chair
Minor Byrd
Junk
Get Up
Billy
The Applecross Wing Commander
The Ocean
How Much is Enough
Jewels and Bullets
Tuesday
Cathy’s Clown
Mr Milk
Purple Sneakers
Rumble
10538
https://www.marshall.com/au/en
