The Living End hold cult icon status in the Australian music scene. They’ve proved this again and again and solidified their place in the canon of Australian music with a string of hit singles and hundreds of sold out shows. On Thursday, September 8 2011, the Melbourne three-piece kicked off their The End Is Just The Beginning Repeating tour to a capacity crowd at The Palace Theatre in Melbourne city.
With the buzz usually reserved for that of an international band, the venue filled up early on in the evening with swarms of fans adorning The Living End t-shirts from tours past and current. One got the feeling that for most fans, this was not the first time they’d be seeing the ‘White Noise’ rockers live. After chatting to a few fans, we found out that some of them had seen The Living End more than twenty times. One fan had even dedicated the artwork on her car to the band. These guys have serious clout.
The evening started off with 2009’s Triple J Unearthed High’s winners, Hunting Grounds (previously known as Howl) and the New Zealand-born, Melbourne-bred, King Cannons. Both bands put on stellar performances, each performing as if they were the headline act. After Thursday night, you can consider both these bands as official blips on our radar.
After a 30-minute wait, the lights dimmed, heartbeats sped up and the band appeared on stage to a choral-like intro. After belting out three songs, vocalist/guitarist, Chris Cheney greeted the masses. “Good evening friends, neighbours and family. That was three old ones. How ‘bout a new one? Sorry. It’s the other way around. That was three new ones. How about an old one?” The crowd cheered in anticipation and the band immediately began playing their second ever single, aptly titled ‘Second Solution’. Bassist, Scott Owen, promptly hopped onto his double bass and performed a mind-blowing solo which ended with his writhing on the floor, Marty McFly style.
The band continued for an hour-and-a-half, delivering a mixbag of tunes consisting of their greatest hits and songs from their brand new album, the tour namesake. Halfway during the set, Owen and drummer, Andy Strachan, left Cheney on stage by himself as he whipped out an acoustic guitar. After a false start, Cheney stopped to tune up, commenting, “that’s just not right. Melbourne’s musically trained. If it was Sydney, fuck ‘em. But we’re not in Sydney. We’re in the most liveable city in the world. In Melbourne people know how to make coffee and tune guitars”. On the second attempt, he started playing ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’. The band (which also included a touring rhythm guitarist) joined halfway through. Cheney’s a great guitarist and he makes sure that everyone knows it. Many songs featured lengthy solos and amazing riffs.
The rockabilly rockers played all the songs you’d expect them to play and more. They returned for an encore and ended with a blistering performance of ‘West End Riot’. The show was spectacular and The Living End, fourteen years into their professional career, are showing no signs of slowing down.
– Brett Schewitz
