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There seems to be no middle ground regarding public opinion about the Whitlams. You love them or you hate them. Saturday’s show at the Metro left no room for doubt about how the audience felt.
The Live Room and Australian songbird Kate Miller-Heidke provided energetic opening entertainment, and both attracted a respectable crowd of onlookers before the main event. The Whitlams took to the stage, and kicked off with a new arrangement of “No Aphrodisiac”, climaxing with a bombastic raw power that established right away that the band was not going to phone this one in.
The performance ran the gamut of moods and styles. The band played a large amount of material from their latest effort, “Little Cloud”. Songs such as “The Beauty in Me”, “Fondness Makes the Heart Grow Absent”, and “Fancy Lover” displayed the ever evolving maturity and depth of singer Tim Freedman’s song writing which has given The Whitlams’ staying power. The title track and ballad “Little Cloud” is such a deceptively simple song and yet its magnitude and scope were hard to ignore in Freedman’s sincere delivery. Meanwhile, upbeat foot-stampers such as “I Was Alive”, “Stay With Me”, and “The Year of the Rat” show the Whitlams have lost none of their bring-down-the-pub, bring-the-audience-to-their-feet rousing style. These songs also remind you that a Whitlams concert is not a one man show, but a lively tight set by some of Sydney’s finest musicians – Terepai Richmond on drums, Jak Housden on guitar and Warrick Hornby on bass in addition to Freedmans’ piano riffs created a perfect sonic unit. Many songs had new live arrangements, which kept them fresh and added vitality despite their age. It was clear the band was enjoying playing them with a new twist as it was for the audience to hear them.
At a Whitlams’ show, you don’t listen to their songs, you participate in them. As Freedman’s described it, the crowd was “rewarded” for their enthusiastic reception to the new songs with many old favourites. Whitlams standards such as “You Sound Like Louis Burdett”, “Royal in the Afternoon”, “Gough”, “Blow up the Pokies”, and “Thank You (For Loving Me at My Worst)” were accompanied by the avid chorus of the audience, a sea of bobbing heads and clapping hands, hitting every cue. This fan loyalty was put to its best and most commanding use not to a spirited pub stomper, but rather to the eloquent, moving ballad “Charlie # 2 (Buy Now, Pay Later) – a familiar crowd favourite and staple of every Whitlams show. Played as the first song of the encore, Freedman returned to stage alone, and nearly whispered the lyrics so as not to overpower the united voices of the 1200 strong audience. He even pulled his head away from the microphone numerous times, but continued singing to ensure we would…..the effect was overpowering, and many were moved to tears.
A fantastic surprise was getting to hear two rare songs in the encore, “Coming Up for Air” and “Band on Every Corner” – which again united the audience into a massive swaying sea. It seemed as through Freedman bantered less between songs that is normal, but this actually made room for more music to be played. The show was complimented with rock arena style lighting and a new rear screen projection show during several songs. There is a reason why the Whitlams are regarded by many critics and fans as one of the best musical acts in Australia. One concert will show you why.
Set List
Tour Dates http://www.thewhitlams.com/SHOWS/