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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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BLACK FLAG
@ Factory Theatre, Sydney,
9th December 2023
(Live Review)

Review by Alec Smart (@alecsmart_fotos)

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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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Veteran hardcore punk pioneers Black Flag rolled into Sydney on Saturday 9 December, performing a two-part concert at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville, without support bands. The first set featured the 40th anniversary celebration of their My War album in full, followed by a career-defining collection of songs that ignited the dance floor.

The blistering show cast aside any lingering disappointments from their troubled 2013 reunion tour (more on that later), and left no one in any doubt Black Flag is still a mighty force to be reckoned with.

On a night when Foo Fighters and The Chats were playing across town at Accor Stadium, and (at the lower end of the ticket pricing scale) Totally Unicorn and Downgirl were down the road at Duke of Enmore, both of which would have drawn a percentage of their audience away, Black Flag attracted a decent-sized crowd.

The My War set saw some of the old songs re-worked, such as Can’t Decide, which now has a longer instrumental introduction that sounds more hypnotic. During the slower numbers, Vallely tends to loiter at the rear of the stage, facing the drum kit, so for a significant proportion of the My War first half of the concert we only saw the back of his head.

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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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However, as a performer he is captivating and brought a new level of intensity to the up-tempo songs that characterised the second set.

Vallely, the band’s fifth vocalist, brings a different energy to the band than Henry Rollins, the previous longest-serving vocalist (1981-86), who strutted about in skimpy shorts parading his gym-toned muscles, like a testosterone-charged alpha-male preparing for a wrestling tournament.

Vallely revised the lyrics to the band’s classic number TV Party, which in previous versions satirised America’s obsession with television. The updated lyrics mock contemporary mobile phone watching and digital gaming.

There was talk recently that Black Flag were planning on releasing another album of new material.

It will be interesting to see what Vallely brings to the creative process, considering TV Party was one of the last humorous songs Black Flag wrote (1981), because Henry Rollins preferred a seriousness focused more on angst-ridden, rage-driven themes.

The buzz-word beforehand was whether the current tour would be like the train-wreck that rolled into town the last time Black Flag performed in Australia on the Hits and Pits tour in November 2013.

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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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On that occasion, during the Perth concert (following a lacklustre Sydney show and weak ticket sales), when disappointed fans reportedly left the venue in droves, Mike Vallely, the singer of support band Good For You (Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn’s side project), strolled onstage mid-set, sacked the singer and took over vocal duties.

The vocalist who was given his marching orders was Ron Reyes, who fronted an early incarnation of Black Flag from 1979-80, and appears on their 1980 Jealous Again EP.

The band was performing the 2013 comeback album What The…, also featuring Ron Reyes on vocals (Reyes illustrated the much-mocked cover artwork too), their first full-length studio album since In My Head (1985). However, it was greeted with global derision by fans.

A decade after that debacle, Vallely is still at the helm, but he brings his own personality to the band, and has honed his live show to perfection. Aside from founder Greg Ginn, he’s now the second-longest-serving member of the band.

Recent recruits Harley Duggan (bass) and Charles Wiley (drums) have settled into the gruelling tour schedules that have long characterised Black Flag’s blue-collar approach to getting out and performing, and are talented musicians in their own right.

Afterwards, the band mingled with fans, who lined up for autographs or to have their photos taken with Vallely, a former professional skateboarder and a committed animal rights activist.

For the sceptics – you missed a bloody good gig! And just to confirm: no songs from the dismal What The… album were performed at the Sydney concert.

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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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Set 1: My War album 40th anniversary

My War
Can’t Decide
Beat My Head Against the Wall
I Love You
Forever Time
The Swinging Man
Nothing Left Inside
Three Nights
Scream

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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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Set 2: Retrospective

Nervous Breakdown
Fix Me
I’ve Had It
Wasted
Jealous Again
No Values
Black Coffee
Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie
Depression
Room 13
Revenge
Six Pack
Slip It In
I Can See You
TV Party
Rise Above
Louie Louie  (Richard Berry cover)

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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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Check out Dan Turner’s (@dapperdanphoto) full gallery of this show HERE

Check out Lucas Packett’s (@lucas.packett.photography) full gallery of this show HERE

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BLACK FLAG / Photo – @dapperdanphoto

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AMNPLIFY – DB