The Black Sorrows, The Hiptones
Governor Hindmarsh
Friday 27 October

Adelaide stalwarts, The Hiptones (who have just secured a release with major label SonyBMG) set the tone tonight with their blues/soul take on things and their 45-minute set included covers plus some originals from the James Black-produced 'Right Now'. Opening with Cheaper To Keep Her, Snooks La Vie had much of the predominantly baby-boomer audience up from the get-go, utilising perfectly the Hammond bass on Devil's Got A Hold On Me, while guitarist Steve Smith was a beacon of concentration providing an excellent mix of rhythm and lead riffs. Drummer Miguel Garcia also shone while providing a steady back-beat to keep the night flowing. Of the known originals, Bring It On Down replicated the Hiptone sound well, while Somethings Gotta Give was staid in comparison. However, a top effort nevertheless.

The Black Sorrows launched their set with the classic Hold On To Me. New album 'Roarin' Town' featured highly with It Ain't True, Lonesome Road, Comfort Me and What Levi Wants all admirable companions in feel and sound to any of the 'Sorrows canon of work. Many were there for old 'Sorrows and 'Falcons songs and Camilleri did not disappoint with Never Let Me Go, Chained To The Wheel and favourites Daughters Of Glory and Shape I'm In all getting an airing.

With his voice in great condition, Camilleri worked the crowd as one would expect with 30 plus years in the game, broken strings and all. It was on the improv side of things that bassist Joe Creighton (Farnham band), facial expressionist extraordinaire drummer Tony Floyd (Things Of Stone And Wood) and guitarist/keyboardist James 'RocKwiz' Black were able to pick up the ball a bit faster than guitarist Claude Carranza and backup vocalists Annette Roche and Troy McMillan. This was oh-so-evident when Camilleri launched into Brown Eyed Girl before rapping about Del Shannon in the Countdown studio, asking guitarist Carranza for an 'A' and heading off into Runaway while the latter three band members took four or five beats to pick up the gist of what was happening. I did say crazy, didn't I?

Most importantly, the crowd loved every minute of it, with dancing happening down the front! The hardest role of the night probably belonged to Annette Roche in having to replicate the sounds the Bull sisters gave many of the songs originally. She did it her way, although at times it appeared she was not perhaps overly familiar with the material.

Finally, there were no duds, but I would've liked to have heard the obscure Taxi Mary.

Mark Liebelt