Kisschasy, TOWNS, Bec Stevens @ The Gov, Adelaide 5/5/2023
It doesn’t get any better than a sold-out Friday night show at The Gov playing host to Kisschasy, TOWNS and Bec Stevens. It was great for Kisschasy to be able to honour their legacy again playing a special one-off Australian headline tour. With that many sold out shows on this tour one would no doubt start thinking is there a what’s next for this much-loved band. Nevertheless, there was plenty of great music on offer from three great bands on the night.
The supports were excellent with Bec Stevens opening in fine fashion playing a rocking set off the back of her debut record Big Worry. Definitely an artist we should be paying a lot more attention to. Hometown heroes TOWNS know how to bring the energy and well and truly warm the stage. Their set was energetic and lively. They impress every time I see them. Highlights included cover All Star by Smash Mouth, Season 5 (Break My Fall) and Safe To Stay.
It only seemed appropriate that the walk on music for Kisschasy was Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back In Town. It was a loud and raucous appreciation as the band made a big return to Adelaide wasting no time getting in to it opening with The Perfect Way To Meet, Strings and Drums and Turnaround. Covering their entire back catalogue, no stone was left unturned and if this was the last time there’s no way anyone could be disappointed with the set list that covered all that you expect from this much-loved band.
The music did all the talking early with Water On a Stove, Ugly Birds in a Beautiful Cage and United Paper People until front man Darren Cordeux spoke saying it was the first time in Adelaide since 2015 and that they had been going on about their lives until a phone call from their booking agent said they should do a tour. Cordeux continued the story by saying fuck off, you’re crazy, will people actually come? Quite incredible that their run of dates at Good Things Festival changed the trajectory for this band and there are so many possibilities for the band if they feel that vibe to keep on keeping on.
Face Without a Name and Generation Why were great and Cordeux making an inference that the crowd was older than they looked, twenty years older. Darkside from their first EP in 2004 of the same name was solid. Some really shining moments came when Cordeux played solo and as he puts it ‘where the band abandons him’ asking the crowd for their help on The Shake. Cordeux said that Adelaide had the best vocals and that Brisbane had pitch problems. He also added that he arrived to find his luggage missing and having tried to sleep he was haunted by the proposition of playing the show in track pants.
Dinosaur was played solo as was Black Dress where the rest of the band returned to play the outro. As the band disappeared back stage for the encore break, they returned with Cordeux saying they forgot to play three songs. As far as encores go this was huge with their big singles Do-Do’s & Whoa-Oh’s, Spray-On Pants and Opinions Won’t Keep You Warm at Night to finish off a top Friday night out. It was great to feel nostalgic and feel the same way towards this band twenty years on and we look forward to whatever comes next.
Live Review By Rob Lyon