I know, it’s pretty early on in the year to be making that claim. But, I think it’s justified.
First of all, the performers:
- Tim Freedman, of The Whitlams
- Pinky Beecroft, formerly of Machine Gun Fellatio, now of Pinky Beecroft and the White Russians
- Dave McCormack, formerly of Custard, now of Dave McCormack and the Polaroids
- Perry Keyes
- Supported by Bernie Hayes
The gig was set at The Basement in Circular Quay on Saturday the 21st of March, 2009. Eventually called Pillowtalk, it was originally going to be called 40-something, Sexy (a reference to The Whitlams’ No Aphrodisiac), until Bernie turned 50.
Tim, Pinky and Dave are amongst my favourite performers, so this was certainly a show I had high expectations for. Best of all, it didn’t disappoint. All of the performers shared the stage fluidly, taking part in each others’ songs, or leaving the stage temporarily to let the others take up the limelight.
First up, Bernie Hayes. I hadn’t heard his music before, and I have to say, I’m a new convert.
The main act proceeded in two parts: set one being songs about when love is new and exciting, including The Whitlams’ Fall For You, The White Russians’ Someone For Everyone and Custard’s Anatomically Correct. Not your conventional love songs, certainly, but I’m sure the sentiment is there… somewhere.
The second set was all about when love goes horribly wrong, perhaps best characterised by The Whitlams’ Last of the Teenage Lovers and Beauty in Me, The White Russians’ My Ex-Girlfriend’s Boyfriend and his classic from MGF days, Unsent Letter. The set finished with Dave’s particular bitter A.V.O.: “Why are you wasting all my precious time?”.
For an encore, Tim and Pinky sang their respective parts of No Aphrodisiac for the first time ever. (Well, second time if you count the show from the previous night.)
Of course, no show involving Dave McCormack would be complete without his particular brand of crazy. From his frequent forays into the audience (both when he was singing, and when he got bored of sitting on stage doing nothing), through to his efforts after the encore to hijack the band and make them play whatever song came to his mind.
All up, a brilliant show consisting of some of Australia’s best live performers. They’re threatening to do it again next year, so for those that missed out, you just might get lucky.