Thursday, September 5, 2013

Trilogy of The Beasts (of Bourbon)

Band: The Beasts of Bourbon
Venue: Memo St Kilda
Date: 29, 30 & 31 August 2013
Reviewed By: Lyn Harder





Three nights of The Beasts. Three nights that felt different yet unleashed a similar set. The first night crept out with Evil Ruby and brought the treasures such as Psycho, Hard For You, Drop Out, Let’s Get Funky, Cocksucker Blues and Execution Day (sung by Spencer P Jones).

The first bill is the Original Line Up featuring Tex Perkins on vocals, Spencer P Jones on guitar, Boris Sujdovic on bass, James Baker on drums, and Kim Salmon on guitar literally shredding the ears of anyone close by (which is me, but I loved it). The second bill is the Low Ride Line Up and the third bill is the Current Line Up. Night two changes are Tony Pola on drums and Brian Henry Hooper on bass and the third night change is Charlie Owen on guitar instead of Kim Salmon. Perkins and Jones are the only originals throughout the entire Beasts history.

The tour marks the bands thirty years of exposure to the world and over three nights the band played different tracks from different albums with different line ups. Although the set list is mainly the same, there are a few exceptions on the first and last nights. The final night saw songs from the last album titled Little Animals, songs such as I Don’t Care About Nothing Anymore, I’m Gone, New Day of The Dead, I Told You So and The Beast I Became To Be.

All three gigs are sold out at Memo in St Kilda (great venue with small bar) and at first most punters were so busy watching the band immerse themselves that any movement kicked in half way through the set, where the front section danced themselves to wreck and ruin. Tex played the stage like a man who was meant to be on it; with sarcasm and fury. His banter before songs and to hecklers is waggish to the bitter end where an idiot in the crowd grabbed the microphone cord and pulled on it to which Tex (Saturday night angry mode) screamed at him, and rightly so.

The sound is rather loud on Saturday night and I could tell Tex isn’t happy – actually a little animal could have felt the anger too. It's this Tex anger that fuels the songs even more so and keeps us punters on edge, I secretly loved it. No amount of ‘tea’ was helping Tex’s vocals by the last night but it didn’t matter, the band backed him up and sang any necessary louder than normal words that needed to be sung and it worked a treat. Salmon and Owen are an inspiration on guitar, they played their instrument like they were born to play it, riff upon riff carried out with perfection, and loud too (did I mention that already?!). Jones sang as well as played on his illustrious guitar, then there is the bassist’s Hooper and Sujdovic who grunted their bass to each song, leaving the drummers Pola and Baker who brought together the tight fitting sound of The Beasts of Bourbon.

The final night brought to stage Salmon as well as Owen on guitar and James Baker joined them for a encore special of the song Drop Out. Sensational gigs but I would have to say that the second night is my favourite due to the vocals and energy on stage.

I can’t wait for another Beasts show but I have a feeling it may be a while coming…..