The Living End/ Children Collide/ The Silents
Tuesday 30 September
HQ


The Living End are a very good band, great even. Tonight they turned in a genuinely blistering show, and are surely one of Australia's best bands, moving well, well past the alt-rockabilly base from which they originated. A packed HQ, certainly one of the most convenient places to see gigs because of the tiered standing room, rocked out for this straight up and down, totally pleasing rock n' roll show.

Chris Cheney is a much-underrated songwriter, and seeing the band these days reflects five albums of solid singles over a ten year period. Every word of West End Riot, All Torn Down and Who's Gonna Save Us? were chorused at high decibels by the crowd, but a heavier and faster version of Prisoner Of Society blew the original away with superb drumming by Andy Strachan.

A surprising jam on The Choirboys' Run To Paradise segued well into a show-climaxing performance of Roll On. Throughout the boys did the usual LE moves, generally involving one of the members standing on the double bass. We've all seen it a million times, but hey - they play harder up there than many bands on solid ground, so why knock the rock?

Their excellent new album 'White Noise' was well represented throughout, with Raise The Alarm, How Do We Know? and Loaded Gun all very well received, though a few comments from Cheney about people preferring 'Mamma Mia' and Coldplay at present let out some cynical feelings!

Indeed, 'White Noise' marks a new level for The Living End, with the title track and Moment In The Sun proving highlights live. A very good release by a band worthy of global recognition, it certainly presents the band moving closer to straight out rock and this performance demonstrated this with a harder, less boppy feel than in previous years. One could feel the presence of AC/DC as strongly as The Clash. In fact, with each between song playful guitar doodling, one half expected Hells Bells to emerge.

The confidence of Cheney's guitar-work was evident in the jams, the penultimate of which convinced me again of his superior ability, as well as the none too shabby bass-work by Scott Owen. They are one tight group and visually and sonically this was a crystal clear echo of a band who know their business inside out.

When they finished it all off with Second Solution, it concluded a brilliant, if workmanlike show by a band in total command of their stock and trade, even with a slightly ill singer.

Tim Hein

Pic: Fiona Stafford