Project Description

Radio Birdman

@ The Gov

25/10/19

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Colin Reid

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I wonder how many people realise just what we are witnessing when we see a gig like this? Radio Birdman are an integral part of the Australian rock landscape. If you were to create a topographical map then Birdman would have their own mountain such is their influence on generations of bands that have followed. There isn’t a great volume of work, there isn’t a string of hit singles, gold records or stadium tour events. What they have is something that is far greater than commercial success, they remain revered for raw and uncompromising live performances and their legend has grown in the decades since those original recordings. Rob and Deniz are well into their 60s and at some point these tours are going to come to an end but in the meantime we are all enjoying the fiery twilight of an amazing band.

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First up tonight are local 3 piece The Sunday Reeds, drawing influences from The Sonics,The Gun Club and even The Cramps. Every time that I see them they get even better than the last time How to Be A Girl and Jean Luc are such great songs and get the crowd out of the bar and up to the stage. They were asked back after opening last year’s show when Los Chicos, the Spanish MC5, were also on the bill and if you like the sound of that then you can catch them on November 7^th when they are supporting Los Chicos at The Metropolitan.

Next up are The Stems led by the super talented Dom Mariani. Living in the UK in the 1980s my first exposure was hearing them on the Young Einstein sound track. I was hooked but somehow I’ve never seen them live before tonight. They bound onto the stage in trademark 80s floral shirts, Mariani with his cherry red Gibson and Ash Naylor, from Even, with a pair of Rickenbacker guitars and straight away they are into it. Man do they play loud! They are clearly a band that loves to play and thrives on playing to an Aussie audience.  ‘Move Me’ really got the crowd going and we are singing along and dancing in time; it is so infectious hearing songs that you know and love live for the first time and I’m totally engulfed, singing every line.  Ash Naylor sings a cover of The Byrds ‘I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better’ before Dom returns with an incredible delivery of ‘Mr Misery’. Dom tells us that they have re-issues available on vinyl ‘where they should always have been’ and the crowd roars its approval! Next he tells us vinyl is going to outsell cds in 2019. Nostalgia rules, vinyl is the new black, literally!  They close the set with a towering version of ‘At First Sight’ taken from the Young Einstein movie and it was incredible. The only disappointment was that ‘Sad Girl’ was on the track listing but didn’t get played.

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Now it is time for the main event. We come out to see them year on year because this is Aussie rock history that deserves to be celebrated.  Birdman are on stage in front of another big crowd with arms aloft, punching the air, singing the songs and getting sweaty as we thrash around in the mosh. The set list is probably 70% of what it was a year ago. The track order has changed a little and the cover versions of Birdman’s musical inspirations revamped. It is both what we expected and what we wanted!  The guitar work is beautiful, the power of the band complete. Deniz still looks so cool defying his age and Rob’s trademark stance, dance and finger clicking delivery is unchanged. We love it; there is nothing like a Birdman gig!

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Whilst they are often linked to the emergence of the Australian punk scene that isn’t a label that they are entirely comfortable with. The pre date punk. The influences in the music are clearly audible and come from a different era of underground, cult bands such as The Doors, MC5, 13^th Floor Elevators, The Stooges etc.  Like a punk ethos, Birdman had an attitude that was as uncompromising as their music. They turned down opportunities to appear on 70s music TV show Countdown even though it could have hugely boosted profile and sales. The played loud, fast and aggressive music and hence the tie in with the punk movement that was breaking worldwide.

We take the ‘Descent into the Maelstrom’ pulled in with the band and somehow emerge intact. As if to give us a respite from the chaos in the mosh we are steadied with the swirling keyboards of ‘Man with Golden Helmet’.

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The regular set ends with two of their biggest songs. ‘Aloha Steve & Danno’ followed by ‘New Race’. The crowd loves it, throwing themselves around. The band leaves the stage to huge applause and we wonder what could they play for an encore that can top that? We don’t have long to wait until they are back, the opening snarling riff of Iggy and The Stooges ‘Search and Destroy’ lifts the roof off! Totally mind blowing. The encore is a tour deforce through their musical influences. Blue Oyster Cults ‘Dominance and Submission’ the song that gave the Birdman album Radios Appear its title is next and then 13^th Floor Elevators ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ before Deniz Tek tells us ‘that it is time’. Time for what? Time to ‘Kick Out The Jams’ of course!

Simply fantastic, in parts it was beautiful and in parts brutal what a Birdman gig this has been. Will they be back again next year? I hope so and we’ll all be back to pay tribute at the Birdman mountain when they do.

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Check out Radio Birdman below
Website | Facebook  

Check out The Stems and The Sunday Reeds below
The Stems | The Sunday Reeds  

Check out Kerrie Geier’s gallery of the night here

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AMNPLIFY – DT