Stereophonics, Live in Perth – 25 July 2013

Metropolis, Perth, Western Australia
Thursday 25 July 2013
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Maree King

There’s no fuss as Kelly Jones and the Stereophonics lads stroll onstage at Perth’s Metropolis and start kicking arses and taking numbers with a set that leans heavily on their strongest two albums – 1999’s Performance And Cocktails and this year’s Graffiti On The Train.

Catacomb from the new platter opens the set before debut album classic Local Boy In The Photograph, and it’s immediately apparent that as many of the packed house tonight know the words to both tracks – a sure sign that this is not a band reliving past glories.

Where the recorded version of recent single We Share The Same Sun is full of layers and atmospherics, live Stereophonics are as they have always been, a bloody great guitar rock band, as the latest record’s title track proves, evoking great atmosphere in a different, louder and rawer fashion than on record.

It seems every U.K. traveller and expat in Perth is at the gig, the numbers made up by locals who have long loved what the Welsh foursome are capable of, and very few seem to be here trawling for their one bonafide pop hit – but more on that later.

Mr Writer from album # 3 JEEP is still full of all the anti-paparazzi vitriol it always was, and Violins And Tambourines is another new track which resonates strongly with the whooping throng as it builds to a frenetic crescendo after it’s radical pitch change mid song.

There’s little chitchat between songs apart from an ‘Owya doin’ here n’ there, until it’s time for casual ‘acoustic guitar jam’ track Been Caught Cheating from Graffitti On The Train. Jones explains that they recorded midday to midnight on the album, then started drinking and playing blues songs for fun, and this one made the record. Very tasty it is too and the change of pace to this singalong works well in the set’s dynamic.

Jones and co-founder Richard Jones (ne relation) huddle together like the old compadres they are, obviously enjoying themselves as they run through a blinding clutch of favourites – Maybe Tomorrow, Just Looking, a raw and garagey Trouble, Hurry Up And Wait, Have A Nice Day and a wild Bartender And The Thief all ensure that most of the crowd will be hoarse tomorrow.

The band down tools and give the audience a clap to signify the end of the set proper, but are soon back for a one-two-three-knockout encore of A Thousand Trees, Traffic – complete with audience chorus – and, as the last song on the Australian tour, that pop song I mentioned earlier, tacked on the end almost so it wont interfere with the real business of being The Stereophonics. It is, of course, Dakota, and whilst enjoyable, it remains a pretty unrepresentative finale for the band even with most of the synth parts played on guitar.

Setlist:

Catacomb
Local Boy In The Photograph
Superman
We Share The Same Sun
Graffiti On The Train
Indian Summer
I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio
Pick A Part That’s New
Mr Writer
Could You Be The One?
Roll The Dice
Violins & Tambourines
Been Caught Cheating
Maybe Tomorrow
Just Looking
Trouble
Hurry Up & Wait
More Life In A Tramp’s Vest
Have A Nice Day
Bartender & The Thief

Encore:
A Thousand Trees
Traffic
Dakota

 

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries