We arrived at the Metro with some time to
get a seat before the support slot which came from Australian underground heroes
Smudge. I have seen Smudge once before
at the Big Day Out on the Annandale stage while having a relax and sometime in
the shade. I enjoyed that shambolic set
so I was interested in checking them out again.
Unfortunately Smudge were plagued by bad sound from the get go to the point that it
was a struggle to get into the songs at all.
Not helping was that Tom Morgan seems to be a bit uninterested in playing a show or doing his
songs justice which could be some way of explaining their lack of success
outside of Australia. Drummer Alison Galloway was fantastic and made up for it in some ways. Some songs were
good but some were decidedly average.
That said the crowd lapped up their set and cheered wildly when familiar
songs were played.
I’ve been a fan of Sebadoh’s
“Bakesale”/Harmacy” records for a long time.
So to say I was excited to see Sebadoh tour that period of the band was
an understatement. The band hit stage to
little fan-fare and progressed through 30 songs in a 1hr 40min set. Lou had the first slot and we were treated to
6 tunes including a run of classics “Skull”, “Ocean”, “Rebound” & “Magnets
Coil”. All songs were great and set up
an interesting change when Jason took the lead.
This is the dichotomy that makes Sebadoh so interesting with Lou’s
structured/melodic tunes side by side with Jason’s punky /angular tunes. Jason’s tunes were given their all by the
band with Lou clearly loving pulling bass shapes. The hardcore “Love to Fight” and “S. Soup”
were the standout’s here. Tag again and
Lou knocked out three more tunes. His
ode to his former now current bandmate J Mascis “The Freed Pig” was the
highlight and reminded me how great that tune was. Jason came back for a 5 song stretch which
included some of his more melodic tunes.
“Careful” & “Crystal Gypsy” from Bakesale were great and “Bird In
The Hand“ from “The Sebadoh” was new to me as I haven’t heard that album in a
long time. The rest of the main set was
Lou’s, bar a punky “Sixteen” from Jason, and we were treated to highlights
“Soul And Fire”, “Beauty Of The Ride”, “Forced Love” & “Brand New Love”
amongst others. I had heard of “Brand
New Love” but never actually heard the tune and it was probably the highlight
of the night. I will have to track that
song down. After a very short and for
formalities only encore break Jason lead “Not Too Amused” before Lou lead the
band in his “least favourite Sebadoh song” “Willing To Wait”. The version the band is playing is harder and
works all the better for it. I have to
admit that I love “Willing To Wait” and this version makes the song even
better. As the band left the stage you
could see the audience were exhausted.
The band’s set posed the question can you have too much of a good thing? The answer in this case is yes and no. I enjoyed having so many songs in the set but
it was a long show. Sebadoh certainly
delivered and I would love to see you again but I think I will need a good
sleep beforehand.
Setlist:
On Fire
Too Pure
Skull
Ocean
Rebound
Magnet's Coil
S. Soup
Mind Reader
Got It
Love To Fight
Drag Down
Dreams
The Freed Pig
Licence to Confuse
Sister
Drama Mine
Crystal Gypsy
Careful
Bird In The Hand
Soul And Fire
Two Years Two Days
Beauty of the Ride
Not A Friend
Forced Love
Together Or Alone
Sixteen
New Worship
Brand New Love
-Encore-
Not Too Amused
Willing To Wait
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