Thirsty Merc, 19-Twenty @ The Gov, Adelaide 2/9/2023
It is always a great night when Thirsty Merc are in town and this show was a little bit more special celebrating the band’s twentieth anniversary. To date, Thirsty Merc seem to be going from strength to strength with no sign of things slowing down.
The real surprise packet was opening act 19-Twenty! Hot damn! These guys are seriously good and make one hell of racket! They have been capturing hearts and minds on the festival scene with their infectious riff and groove based blue-billy-grass-rockin’-roots.
Right from when they walked on the staged they well and truly owned it commanding attention for their full forty five minute set. Kane Dennelly said it was their job to the crowd “semi-hard” so that Thirsty Merc could finish the job. They have some awesome songs but they are to turn their set on its head like ripping out short grabs of covers of the ilk in My Sharona (The Knack), The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Seven Nation Army (The White Stripes), Killing In The Name Of (Rage Against The Machine) and The Bad Touch (Bloodhound Gang). Their own songs are fantastic and seem purpose built for live shows with the likes of Big Love, Judge Judy, Natural Woman and 2 & 4 impressing. There’s much to look forward to with this band and let’s hope that there is next show in Adelaide. With Dennelly saying his job was done and the crowd had been “fluffed” it wasn’t long to wait for the main act.
Thirsty Merc took the stage to a heroes like welcome. Full of smiles and look pumped for a big show they opened with My Completeness followed by The Good Life and Baby Tell Me I’m the Only One. The band were super tight and sounded freaking unbelievable. Front man Rai Thistlethwayte couldn’t believe it had been twenty years and continued to plough through the greatest hits of Thirsty Merc. The crowd knew all the words to The Hard Way, Mousetrap Heart and Someday, Someday was quite reflective with Thistlethwayte casting his mind back to 2004 and playing a gig at The Gov and reminiscing where people started to sing this song in unison.
The band went deep in to the back catalogue with Betty Page and an “oldie” in Hey Jacinta had never been played live before. Set staples All My Life, I Wish Somebody Would Build a Bridge (So I Can Get Over Myself), Tommy & Krista and 20 Good Reasons were all there. The band was firing on all fours and looked like they didn’t want to stop returning for an encore with big hit single Summertime and an awesome cover of The Beatles I Saw Her Standing There. Great show and a tour not to miss.
Live Review By Rob Lyon