Live Review: ARC plays Abbey Road Live, Perth Concert Hall
Sunday, 11 August, 2019

By 1969 The Beatles were a fractious bunch, bickering and bitching – not that you’d know it from the Abbey Road album (the last they’d record together, though not the last they’d release), from that September 50 years ago. It was a triumph, often included in lists of not only the band’s finest, but also the best albums of all time.

Standing before a simple yet evocative backdrop paying homage to the iconic album cover, Spiderbait’s Kram – barefooted and giggling – admits to some nerves before summoning a cheer of encouragement from the sold out grand old dame Perth Concert Hall, then it’s on.

‘Come Together’ starts with subdued restraint, drummer Brett Wolfenden channelling the Ringo of the time in both style and facial hair (and a little later, on vocals for ‘Octopus’s Garden’ and ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’), before Kram leaps behind a second drumkit and joins in.

The entire album is played with consummate skill by this extremely-above-average tribute band, ARC, which includes Powderfinger’s Darren Middleton, Even’s Ash Naylor, Jet’s Mark Wilson, keys maestro James Fleming and You Am I’s Davey Lane.

These guys know their way around a stage, and thankfully they eschew the folly of trying to replicate the songs precisely as recorded. They play the songs as they might have been performed in concert – and remember, The Beatles never performed these songs live, as Middleton reminds us, “if it looks like we’re concentrating really hard… we have to do it!” – imbuing them with their own personalities and talents as they walk the razor’s edge of some incredibly complex arrangements and still bring plenty of soul and vibrancy to the tunes.

There’s one more muso on stage, and she’s the secret weapon of the group, lifting every song she tackles to a higher place. It’s Linda Bull, and her ‘Oh Darling’ is spine-tingling, soulful, full of raunch and passion, while she brings a stomping Rockshow-like treatment to ‘Golden Slumbers’ and ‘Carry That Weight.’

Davey Lane throws rock shapes and struts the stage like the best dressed guitarist in town, which he is, resplendent in a silver suit for the first half and a white one for the second. His solo ‘Here Comes The Sun’, and later, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, are both beautiful highlights.

“Now the party starts,” says Lane as the second set starts, a full hour or more of hits and deep cuts, presented in reverse chronological order. Some of the most exciting moments occur when the band go off piste: Kram & the band celebrate ‘Helter Skelter’s proto-metal madness, Middleton brings tender excitement to ‘I Will’, Bull starts ‘Hey Jude’ acapella, the band and audience alike looking on in unabashed admiration.

‘For No-One’ – Kram’s favourite Beatles track and his go-to breakup song – and Middleton’s solo ‘Yesterday’ impress, before a frantic ‘Help’, huge ‘Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Please Please Me’, followed by a post-standing ovation ‘Love Me Do’.

We’ll shelve the debate about whether tributes such as these are worthy or a blight against original acts for another day. What is obvious is that the musos on stage do something The Beatles never managed: play the Abbey Road album (and more) authentically, brilliantly, and with obvious respect and love for the music and for each other. “And they call this a job,” Kram (‘The Walrus’, FYI) laughs at one stage.

We may not all be so lucky as to be able to do what he and his mates on stage are doing, but we’re privileged enough to enjoy watching and hearing them do it, and tonight’s crowd didn’t hold back in showing their appreciation.

RELATED: The Ultimate Abbey Road-test

ARC Presents: The Beatles’ Abbey Road Live

Tickets available through Live Nation

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine