Review: Greg Phillips. Photos: David Harris
With the outside temperature in single digits and the rain pouring down, it still didn’t deter Melbourne’s fanatical music devotees from packing out night one of two at The Forum to see Britpop darlings Supergrass on their global 30th anniversary “I Should Coco’ tour. And pack the place they did, with little room for punters to manoeuvre.
Melbourne rock stalwarts Rocket Science, who are of a similar vintage to Supergrass pumped out a fiery brand of retro rock to warm the crowd up nicely, creating a buzz in the air. It was great to see the imposing figure of singer/keyboardist Roman Tucker and the world-acclaimed band back on a major Melbourne stage.
With the stage adorned by a huge ‘Coco’ album cover backdrop featuring the band’s faces, Supergrass hit the ground running, with Danny Goffey drum-rolling the band into ‘I’d Like to Know, song one from their ground-breaking debut album from 1995. They then proceeded to knock ‘em all off in track order. ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ and ‘Man Size Rooster’ followed and you couldn’t have chosen 3 more rockin’ tunes to open a show with. We were three songs in before main man Gaz Coombes took to the microphone to thank us for coming and apologised for being late, “The traffic was a bitch,” he tells us. I assume he meant late coming back to Australia because the guys had hit the stage spot on 9pm, their allocated stage time. With that, the familiar piano chords of ‘Alright’ rang out and the crowd went nuts. That’s the quirk of these anniversary shows, playing an old album in track order, the hits sometimes appear very early in the set. Immediately the Melbourne crowd were shouting along with the band ‘We are young. We run green. Keep our teeth nice and clean. See our friends, See the sights. And feel Alright”
The room vibe was electric, the band were in full flight with Mick Quinn on bass and Danny on Drums locking into a strong rhythm and by now the sound guys seemed to have overcome the initial muddiness of the sound mix. Jumping the gun, the band seemed to be launching into ‘Lenny’ before realising “Lose It’ was up next and quickly did a restart, setting the track order back in its place. Among friends, it merely endeared us even more to the band. The ’S’ section of the album followed … ‘Strange Ones, Sitting up Straight’ and “She’s So Loose’, all going down well with an audience who fondly recall spinning the band’s debut album in full on countless occasions in their youth.
Gaz Coombes was in top form, ripping solos, swapping between a black Tele and Burns Custom guitar through a bank of Matchless amps, while brother Rob Coombs conjured all manner of sounds from his Nord keyboard set up.
The Beatlesque ‘Sofa (Of My Lethargy)’ gave the band the opportunity to stretch out and show their significant musical chops before ending the Coco section of the show with the acoustic-based ‘Time To Go’, presenting a singalong opportunity for the crowd.
‘Richard III’ was an inspired choice to kick off the rest of the evening, with the audience pogoing up and down in appreciation. ‘Late In The Day’ the evocative tune from their second album gave us some respite from the intensity of the previous song. ‘Mary’ from The Strange Ones album allowed the band to rock off their leash, again displaying their remarkable and perhaps underrated musical skills. ‘Moving’ is such a perfect pop song, showcasing Gaz’s considerable vocal range, which hasn’t diminished at all since the original recording. Gaz Coombes really is a master songwriter, who can not only knock out a rockin’ tune but include great lyrical statements and reach deep into our hearts with emotion at the same time. ‘Grace’, another pure-bred britpop rocker was an ideal way to exit the main set.
Of course the band was always coming back and why not do so with the heavy artillery. A rousing ‘Sun Hits The Sky’ had the crowd losing any inhibitions that they may have had, shouting back the lyrics with all of the spirit they could muster. It only took a fleeting taste of the ‘D’ ‘E’ chord intro of ‘Pumping On Your Stereo’ to have the crowd singing the chorus without any encouragement from the stage. The band has so many great rockin’ songs, not many better than this Bowie influenced classic. The band lapped up the applause, as the crowd acknowledged not only a long, successful career but a band who still knows how to produce a damn fine rock show.
Supergrass are back at the Forum in Melbourne again tonight before heading to Sydney and Brisbane.
Remaining dates:
Sunday 8 June
Forum | Melbourne, VIC
18+
ticketek.com.au
Tuesday 10 June
Sydney Opera House Concert Hall | Sydney, NSW
Lic. All Ages
sydneyoperahouse.com
Wednesday 11 June
The Tivoli | Brisbane, QLD
18+
ticketmaster.com.au
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Set List Forum night one:
I’d Like to Know
Caught by the Fuzz
Mansize Rooster
Alright
Lose It
Lenny
Strange Ones
Sitting up Straight
She’s So Loose
Were Not Supposed To
Time
Sofa (Of My Lethargy)
Time toGo
Richard III
Late in the Day
Mary
Moving
Grace
Sun Hits The Sky
Pumping on Your Stereo
