Something For Kate @ The Gov, Adelaide 17/11/2017
Something For Kate had returned to the Kingdom delivering another splendid night’s entertainment for the township. The full house sign was up and there was a really good Friday night party vibe going on. Interestingly “The Spring Tour” was the first time the band played club shows in four years after playing much larger venues in recent times. The production, staging and lighting were all top shelf and despite the sound being a bit average to start off that didn’t dampen the endeavour of the band. Crikey Moses! The set list was a real treasure trove of hits bringing more than a smile to the faces of even the most die hard of fans.
It was business like early playing the big guns such as Anarchitect, Pinstripe, Captain (A Million Miles An Hour) and Prick in succession. Paul Dempsey’s opening remarks were “why hello there, welcome back to the kingdom, great to be in a hot sweaty intimate environment, it’s been three or four years since doing a show like this.” The set list covered every nook and cranny of the Something For Kate discography. Would there be a preview of some new songs? No, not to be! Cigarettes And Suitcases and Survival Expert were fantastic before the show took an interesting turn.
Everything was seemingly fine as Dempsey introduced Anchorman as a gentle soothing newscaster in the night which now a Twitter newsfeed. Three quarters of the way through the song the band lost power on stage which presented an interesting dilemma about what to do. Dempsey picked up the acoustic guitar to much applause and tried talking over the top of the crowd noise but without a microphone it was tough. Getting the crowd to quieten down was tricky but when Dempsey walked out in to the crowd and stood up on a table the crowd listened to a remarkable version of Truly off Phantom Limbs: Selected B-Sides.
Power restored with Dempsey responding “that was novel, shit happens, lucky we have tables!” The next song coincidentally was about “shit that don’t work” with Jerry, Stand Up. The Kids Will Get The Money and Down The Garden Path were great and equally as great was hearing Happy Endings which rarely gets played these days. Dempsey raised a concern about South Australia being the only place where pints were 425mL and feeling ripped off in the Kingdom and encourage the crowd to rise up with fists.
Star-Crossed Citizens was about being in love with your citizenship and No Man’s Land was originally about George W. Bush who has now been replaced by Donald Trump. Dempsey went solo for the next couple including Chapel St Etc then Feeding The Birds And Hoping For Something In Return. It wouldn’t be a Something For Kate set without a cover. Tonight they pulled out Husker Du’s Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely. The main set finished with set staple Electricity which really got the energy of the crowd going again.
The band returned for an encore with Dempsey promising that there would a new album sometime soon (we’ll hold you to that!). The encore was stellar with hit single Monsters, Like Bankrobbers and Last Minute leaving the crowd satisfied. As Paul, Stephanie and Clint disappeared in to the night all had been restored in the Kingdom!
Review by Rob Lyon