.

.

THE STRANGLERS
+ Merryn Jeann
@ The Tivoli, Brisbane,
20th March 2025
(Live Review)

Review and photos by Alec Smart (@alecsmart_fotos)

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

The Stranglers, back in black and celebrating their 50^th anniversary, performed at The Tivoli, Brisbane, on their 2025 Australasian tour, supported by gifted northern NSW artist Merryn Jeann.

Billed as ‘five coast-to-coast shows’, The Stranglers’ Brisbane appearance on their ‘Fifty Years In Black’ anniversary tour took place in the century-old Tivoli theatre, aka: ‘The Tiv’.

The former bakery, then state repository of rare books, followed by cabaret theatre-restaurant, has evolved into a premium concert venue hosting artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Taylor Swift, Adam Ant, James Reyne, Ice Cube and Marianne Faithful.

So it is only fitting that rock royalty such as The Stranglers should grace its stage – their seventh appearance in the grand old concert hall.

.

Merryn Jean, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

Main support on their tour, Merryn Jeann, whom The Stranglers described on their website as “spellbinding art-pop and captivating vocals”, hails from Mullumbimby on the NSW north coast. Merryn plays her own quirky compositions, accompanied onstage by trumpeter Lauren and music programmer Josh, while she alternates guitar, keyboards and tambourine.

She’s released two studio albums on Rescue + Return Records (which she co-founded), the self-titled Merryn Jeann (2019) and the more recent Dog Beach (2024), which, according to her Bandcamp profile, “explores pop, grunge, rock and folk with orchestral and cinematic tones.”

The title was inspired by the beach near her mother’s Byron Bay home that has an off-leash area for dogs. In a May 2024 interview with To Be magazine, Merryn described why she chose the title.

“I was visiting Australia [she was living in Paris] and I went down to the dog beach and I was like: ‘I just fucking love this place and I want the album to feel like this.’ The beach hosts feelings of life, which are sometimes darker, more chaotic, or silly, or happy and loving, or whatever…”

See Merryn’s music video for Ice Cream here.

.

Merryn Jean, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

The Stranglers’ Brisbane appearance was the second concert of a five-date national tour (following three nights in New Zealand) performing highlights from their long and varied career, plus a few unexpected numbers.

The Australasian tour coincided with the release of a 29-song live album, Fifty Years In Black, recorded at venues in UK and Ireland during their half-century concerts last year.

From their humble beginnings in 1974 rehearsing in a storeroom at drummer Jet Black’s off-license (what we call a ‘bottle-o’ in Australia) called The Jackpot in Guildford (in Surrey, southern England), and driving to gigs in one of Jet’s ice cream vans (the jazz drummer owned a small fleet), the band has become a phenomenally successful venture.

They’ve released 18 studio albums that have drawn countless accolades and awards and enjoyed international chart-topping success. Their songs have also featured in TV series, movies and advertising jingles.

Sadly, Jet (real name Brian Duffy) passed away in December 2022, although he last performed with the band in 2015 and retired in 2018 at the ripe age of 80.

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

Long-term keyboardist Dave Greenfield also sadly passed away two years earlier (May 2020) from COVID-19 during the worldwide Covid pandemic, while he was being treated in hospital for heart complications. Greenfield performed on the band’s most recent album, Dark Matters (released 2021).

Greenfield gave the band their signature sound of swirling keys, which drew more from 1960s band The Doors than the raw guitar-driven noise practiced by their punk rock contemporaries, such as Sex Pistols and The Clash.

Despite their ‘punk’ label, The Stranglers weren’t initially part of the burgeoning London punk rock scene of the mid 1970s, being somewhat older and significantly more musically accomplished (bassist Jean-Jacques ‘JJ’ Burnel, for example, is a classical guitarist).

However, they gathered a dedicated punker fanbase following their supports for punk rock luminaries The Ramones and Patti Smith on their respective first British tour dates.

Singer-guitarist Hugh Cornwell, who co-wrote many of the band’s most enduring and successful songs, departed in 1990 after recording the album 10 and currently enjoys a successful solo career.

The setlist for the Brisbane Tivoli show followed the same order as the previous night in Sydney, and thereafter for the Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth dates. This included material from their iconic first four albums Rattus Norvegicus (1977 – which spawned their running rat logo) No More Heroes (1977), Black and White (1978) and The Raven (1979).

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

No songs from the five albums recorded during the Paul Roberts‘ era were included. Roberts replaced founder vocalist Hugh Cornwell in 1990 and departed acrimoniously in 2006. (The first four of those albums covered an era when the band were “a bit lost”, according to bassist JJ Burnel.

They bounced back from this lull with the commercially successful Norfolk Coast, which was inspired by Burnel retreating to the Norfolk coast for three months’ creative refocussing. It was also the first album to feature new recruit Baz Warne  – ex Toy Dolls – on guitar, who became Burnel’s primary songwriting partner and later assumed lead vocals after the departure of Roberts.)

The band were in fine form at The Tivoli. Soon after the show started there was a minor scuffle in the crowd near the front, but the tipsy miscreants were tiptoed off the premises by vigilant security.

Interesting to note: only a few of the audience (most of whom were over-40s) filmed the band on their mobile phones. This is in stark contrast to recent concerts I’ve attended that attracted a younger crowd, where up to 90 per cent of them film the show. Then they return home to watch shakey, poorly-focussed, audio-distorted versions of the concert that they barely-experienced through a tiny screen.

Nevertheless, Baz Warne drew attention to a man near the front who held his phone aloft.

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

“There’s a bloke down here filming,” he announced in his Sunderland Mackem accent. “Who are you, the taxman?! Are you going to go home and watch it while having a, you know?” he mocked, referencing masturbation. “I would!” he added, laughing.

A spirited rendition of The Raven, from the 1979 album of the same name, was respectfully dedicated to dear-departed Jet Black and Dave Greenfield.

JJ Burnel assumed lead vocals on several songs, including Freedom is Insane, Don’t Bring Harry and White Stallion. During the latter he repeatedly raised his arms like a penitent priest seeking redemption.

JJ is surprisingly sprightly for his youngish 73 years. He shuffles around on his feet, occasionally doing high kicks. I recall he is a seventh dan black belt in Shidokan Karate and figure he could still deliver a knockout wallop with those feisty feet.

For the musically-curious, JJ plays custom-built instruments, made in England by luthier Jon Shuker, who has crafted three special JJ Burnel Signature bass guitars, available to purchase.

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

JJ is also a keen biker and owns several Triumph motorcycles. When I last interviewed him in January 2020, he enthused about a group ride that three of the band had undertaken in Australia.

“One of my most memorable rides was after an Australian tour,” he recalled. “Three of us stayed on in Perth and Triumph loaned us three motorcycles and we rode down to Margaret River, which was fantastic, although we had a lot of rain. About 500km, it was great fun!”

Photographer John Dewhurst, with whom I shared the photo-pit at The Tivoli and who’s been documenting the band’s Australasian tour, recalled an amusing incident when he was driving through France towards a Stranglers’ concert in Toulouse. Suddenly, a biker on a Triumph raced past him at high speed, pursued by several others struggling to keep up. That biker was, of course, JJ Burnel.

Baz, whose vocals are remarkably similar to original singer Hugh Cornwell, is a skilled lead guitarist, utilising a 1976 black Fender Telecaster and two Mansons. He is also a master gurner, with a varied repertoire of menacing facial expressions.

There is a close friendship between Baz and JJ that transcends their musical partnership. It even extends to personal hygiene.

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

I’ll elaborate: during the band’s performance of Golden Brown, with Baz on vocal duties for this gorgeous ballad, JJ strolled up alongside, grasping the towel Baz uses to mop his hairless head.

To get a better picture, you have to imagine the lilting harpsichord sound of the keyboards, played in a unique cadence of three bars of ¾ waltz timing, followed by a single bar of 4/4, looped mesmerically. The hypnotic song, apparently about a woman, is actually a clever metaphor for heroin use.

Whilst Baz was singing the ambiguous lyrics of this lovely tune, about being tied to a ship’s mast and transported to distant lands, JJ suddenly reached over and started wiping his nose with the sweaty towel. As Baz laughed confusingly, JJ indicated that his bandmate’s nostrils were streaming.

Afterwards, Baz declared, “There I was, trying to emote with one of the world’s most beautiful songs, while a big snot was hanging out of my nose!”

Later, as they were about to perform their encore, JJ revealed, “Tonight I had two unique experiences: firstly, I had the biggest brain fog I’ve experienced in 50 years, and secondly, I saw the biggest bogie, attached to Baz’s microphone!”

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

The unexpected interruption to this beautiful ballad did not diminish the evening’s ambience. The band followed with their timeless classic Always The Sun, which, as a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, always engenders a massive singalong during the choruses. The crowd of 1500 responded by indulging enthusiastically.

A departure from the expected crowd favourites followed, with keyboardist Toby Hounsham (who joined the band in 2021) taking lead vocals on Genetix (a song from their 1979 album The Raven that Dave Greenfield traditionally sung).

This was followed by JJ singing White Stallion, from their most recent album Dark Matters.

Baz identified a bootleg T-shirt in the crowd, and during banter with the owner, who revealed he’d printed it himself, Baz teasingly asked, “Are you Scottish?!” – referring to the Scots’ alleged notoriety for capitalising on anything.

Baz then inquired, “Can I have one? I really like them!”

Then the hits returned as the band rounded off their set with their extended version of Burt Bacharach’s Walk On By, for which Baz’s lead guitar work was exemplary, followed by Hanging Around and the night’s finale, Tank.

Returning for the two-song encore, JJ declared, “Before we became the greatest band in the world, we were a pub band.’ Introducing Go Buddy Go, the first song The Stranglers wrote, he revealed that in those days they ‘stole’ a lot of musical ideas, as pub bands frequently did, and if the tune sounded familiar, it was likely borrowed from somewhere.

Then they finished on crowd favourite, No More Heroes, about the departure of influential characters, before they themselves departed for distant shores.

The Stranglers’ music video for This Song, their 51^st single in 50 years, can be seen here.

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

THE STRANGLERS
Set List

Toiler on the Sea
(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)
Duchess
The Raven
Nice ‘n’ Sleazy
Sweden (All Quiet on the Eastern Front)
Just Like Nothing on Earth
Freedom is Insane
Don’t Bring Harry
Skin Deep
Breathe
Peaches
Strange Little Girl
Golden Brown
Always the Sun
Genetix
White Stallion
Walk on By (Burt Bacharach cover)
Hanging Around
Tank

Encore

Go Buddy Go
No More Heroes

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

Check out Alec Smart’s (@alecsmart_fotos) full gallery of this event HERE

Check out Michael Selge’s (@oz.craftypics) full gallery of the Adelaide event (The Gov, 23rd March) HERE

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

Follow THE STRANGLERS
Website – Instagram – Facebook
Spotify – YouTube

Follow MERRYN JEANN
Instagram – Facebook – YouTube – Spotify – Bandcamp

.

The Stranglers, The Tivoli, Brisbane, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, 20 March 2025

.

Press Release 19th February 2025 (below) HERE

THE STRANGLERS
‘Fifty Years In Black’
The Anniversary Tour 2025
Australia & New Zealand

.

.

AMNPLIFY – DB