Despite the fact that the headliners haven’t played on our shores for five years, The Tivoli is, surprisingly, only a third full. However, it’s clear that those who have arrived are eager to see the faux-fraternal brit rockers The Fratellis ply through their indie tracks in the flesh.
After taking a break from music, the three-piece are now celebrating a victorious comeback with the release of We Need Medicine. That said, the years that the band members took off were productive, with each member finding time to indulge in their own side projects before reforming last year to record a new album of catchy, high-energy numbers.
Making heavy use of a digital backing track, support act Jenny Broke The Window add depth to a synth-pop sound already dripping with keys and bright guitar and bass tones. Sans a secondary percussionist tonight due to flight delays in Sydney, the remaining members seem undeterred as they ease through a set of optimistic foot-tappers. Their missing drummer Todd Simpson finally arrives at the venue to much fanfare just in time to add his own beats and tambourine to set closer, ‘Rum N’ Cola’.
Emerging on stage and beckoning the crowd to fill in the gaps near the front, The Fratellis don’t waste any time before heading into the melody of ‘This Old Ghost Town’, the start of a lengthy 24-song set.
It’s no wonder that the band seem totally at home on stage. Despite being on hiatus from 2009 to 2013, the trio have dived straight back into music, playing live shows across Europe and the US in recent months. They deliver ‘Flathead’ early on, the first singalong of the evening, followed by ‘Whiskey Saga’.
The group alternate between tracks from new album We Need Medicine and 2006’s Costello Music for most of the set, only briefly delving into 2008’s Here We Stand.
With We Need Medicine, The Fratelli’s have taken a slight detour from the indie-pop highway, delving into other styles such as blues and even country influences. In the live setting, with the keyboard slightly louder in the mix, tracks like ‘We Need Medicine’ and ‘Until She Saves My Soul’ almost sound like they wouldn’t be out of place in a stereotypical salloon in the old west – if they didn’t have the added thrashing drums and overdriven guitar, that is.
However, grandstand moments of the evening are reserved for tracks from Costello Music. The album, full of the catchiest guitar rock you’re likely to hear, provides the soundtrack to many of the dancing punters at the front, and spurs one of the happiest crowd-assisted choruses with ‘Henrietta’. Audience requests are fired at the band from all directions between songs, but Jon Fratelli and co are not to be distracted as they continue to mix the old with the new.
The crowd is thrown a curveball during the encore, and are introduced to a song being played for the first time in the southern hemisphere. There’s a three-minute interlude before the band overdrives everything for a heavy rock cover of Dion’s ‘Runaround Sue’, during which older members of the crowd chime in with “hep heps”, leaving the youngsters to wonder, “What new song is this?”
Predictably, ‘Chelsea Dagger’ is played next, with the signature drum rhythm and ‘Do do-do do do-do’ hitting the crowd like a shot of adrenalin, providing the evening’s final big chorus before the swirls of distortion, feedback, and keyboard run while ‘A Heady Tale’ closes proceedings.
Triumphantly, The Fratellis depart, proving once and for all that they can offer so much more than just ‘Chelsea Dagger’.
