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REVIEW: THE BADLOVES – ST. ANDREWS HOTEL

THE BADLOVES – ST ANDREWS HOTEL – MELBOURNE – 01.02.2025

Review: Craig Eriksson, Photos: Jason Rosewarne

It felt like we were on a road trip as we made our way out to the St Andrews Hotel to see The Badloves last night. This hotel has a unique country pub vibe and was first established back in 1856. The pub is situated in the North-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne and has hosted some wonderful music over the years that we have seen such as Geoff Achison and Shannon Bourne. Punters that attended last night were an eclectic group of people ranging from cowboys, hippies, farmers and country folk creating for a rowdy, fun and interesting evening.

The Badloves are an Australian Blues, R&B, soul rock band that first formed back in 1990 by Michael Spiby on lead vocals and guitar. Their debut album Get On Board was released in 1993 and had the hit song LOST which remains just as popular today as back then and still gets a lot of airplay. Also in 1993, they had a huge hit song THE WEIGHT which is a cover version of The Band’s 1968 single and this single features Jimmy Barnes on co-lead vocals. This song appears on Jimmy Barnes Flesh & Wood (1993) album. Over the years, the band has gone through multiple re-formations and hiatuses and had numerous hits such as GREEN LIMOUSINE, I REMEMBER and SLAVE.

I first saw The Badloves perform live back in 1995 and have followed them for 30 years now and have seen them countless times at festivals and small live music venues. They are a wonderful group of accomplished musicians who have a strong, close connection with each other, demonstrating deep musical understanding, seamless stage chemistry and a shared passion for their style of music. Their music is so laid back, smooth and schmick.

What I found amazing last night was they had two fill-in musicians – Bass player Yuri Pavlinov (The Bamboos) and Lead Guitarist Brett Wood (Pete Murray Band)  join Michael Spiby (Lead Vocals/guitar), Samuel Cope (Hammond organ/backing vocals) and Jeff Consi (Drums/backing vocals) and honestly nobody would have known. Their camaraderie on stage was beautiful to watch as each member of the band made it look effortless blending their parts together.

They opened with a famous rendition of GREEN ONIONS which was released back in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.’s. This is an incredible song that is instrumental and showcased just how incredibly tight-knit and talented The Badloves are as musicians. This led into the bluesy SOULBROTHERTRUCKINSONG highlighting Spiby’s smooth soulful vocals.

We thoroughly enjoyed their 15-song set tonight with standout songs like SLAVE, CAROLINE, MEMPHIS, GREEN LIMOUSINE, YESTERDAYS GONE, BAREFOOT BRIDE, LOST and THE WEIGHT. We loved the way they jammed in between several songs and connected with each other. The charismatic Consi on drums is mesmerising to watch along with Wood playing some cool solos on lead guitar whilst Cope on organ and Pavlinov on bass kept a steady and harmonious driving rhythm as Spiby fronted the band and soulfully sang and played guitar.

It was a challenging crowd tonight with many local patrons being quite drunk and we thought were a bit distracting and disrespectful to the band. Full credit and total admiration to these seasoned and talented musicians must be given, by the manner in which they showed pure professionalism and soldiered on, not letting the disruptive crowd ruin their show. It was obvious the band love playing together and they just got on with it and enjoyed the evening and performed a solid, brilliant set.

The 2-song encore was WADE IN THE WATER and their 2021 single release MIDNIGHT SUN.

Overall, a brilliant night was enjoyed of homegrown music in a local country pub by an iconic Aussie band – The Badloves. Thanks lads!

SET LIST:

Green Onions (cover)

Soulbrothertruckinsong

Slave

Tribal

Sugar Daddy

Caroline

Barefoot Bride

Green Limousine

Yesterdays Gone

This Train (cover)

Memphis

The Weight (cover)

Lost

Encore:

Wade In The Water

Midnight Sun

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