Fuel @ The Gov, Adelaide 3/12/2017
It is hard to believe that this was Fuel’s first visit to Australia in fifteen years but to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of their infamous Sunburn album it seemed like perfect timing to renew acquaintances with an Australian tour. Adelaide was the second stop on the tour and the band were in top form and ready to rock their loyal and excitable fans at The Gov. As a casual rock observer it was good to be able to sit back and just see how much these songs mean to their fans. Whilst Fuel aren’t my cup of tea you couldn’t fault their endeavor and the spirit of their performance.
What was good about their performance was whilst there was no surprise that their main set would be focused on Sunburn the set list didn’t follow the typical track one to album’s end which I think worked well for them. Fuel mainstay Brett Scallions still has plenty of that rock swagger playing Untitled, Jesus Or A Gun and New Thing before speaking to the crowd and saying how “great it is to be back in the beautiful place of Oz”.
The title track Sunburn was next and Scallions said that there were a few bugs here and there like ghosts in the machine referring to some technical issues happening. Scallions toasted the crowd saying that this is known as “brown water where I come from”. The crowd went absolutely nuts for Shimmer which was their massive chart single just about everywhere. The energy of the crowd lifted a couple of notches. Punters were yelling out for their favourite Fuel songs prompting Scallions to say that “there is plenty of time to hear what you want to hear”.
There was the constant reminder from Scallions thanking the crowd for being here and sticking with the band. Bittersweet went down well and the band hit full throttle ripping through the Sunburn album. Mary Pretends, Ozone and It’s Come To This were all there. Scallions asked the crowd if they could pick It’s Come To This. Hard to believe that was the Sunburn album covered in its entirety.
The band returned for an encore with Scallions repeating how much he loves Australia and that hopefully it wouldn’t be another fifteen years for a return visit. Looking at what’s left in the “grab bag” it was Bad Day that was pulled out first and the crowd found plenty of voice singing the words. Puppet Strings was rock solid followed by an AC/DC tease Black In Black with Scallions saying god bless you Malcolm in a tribute to Malcolm Young who passed away. The set list had Falls On Me listed which wasn’t played but the night drew a close on Hemmorhage (In My Hands) giving the crowd the chance to have one last sing-a-long before the drive home.
Review by Rob Lyon