James Reyne @ The Gov, Adelaide 27/12/2019
It was a real festive vibe at The Gov with what would have been close to a sell out to see Australian icon James Reyne play all the hits and more. Live music in Adelaide at this time of year is a bit skint so it was fantastic that there was something on at the home of live music. This show was originally the second show that was meant to happen back in July but was re-scheduled to now because of illness.
Opening with I Can’t Help Myself from the James Reyne and the Magnificent Few EP it didn’t take long for the crowd to find voice once the Australian Crawl classics got an airing. The first few were Beautiful People, Daughters Of The Northern Coast and Lakeside. Slave sounded great also. Reyne said he was happy to be here after having a house full of family and friends at his girlfriend’s house hoping that this comment didn’t get back via social media.
Hit single Hammerhead was a ripper but the real stand outs were Downhearted and Reckless (Don’t Be So). It is quite amazing that these great songs still resonate and have stood the test of time proving just as popular now as they were way back then. There were some minor sound issues throughout the night much to Reyne’s frustration even asking the question “what’s that noise?”
Interestingly Reyne played Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama which is a song he hadn’t played in a long time as he really hated it saying that the song is “shithouse”. Motor‘s Too Fast and Errol were stellar and as Reyne said given that they were from Melbourne they’d play The Dingoes cover Way Out West.
The set came steaming home with more big singles in Oh No Not You Again, Fall Of Rome followed by song that nearly brought the house down in The Boys Light Up. Returning for an encore it was Things Don’t Seem that wrapped a solid night’s entertainment with fans continuing the good times well in to the night. Next year will be a huge year for James Reyne with plenty more touring action to come.
Live Review By Rob Lyon