Icehouse, Baby Animals, The Screaming Jets, Australian Rock Collective @ VAILO Adelaide 500, Adelaide 25/11/2023

First up a massive congratulations to the people organising the concerts for the VAILO Adelaide 500 in getting this huge line up of Australian artists on one bill. Also, for including two local bands to warm up the crowd in Puree and Mums Favourite.

With the fuel fumes from the Supercars still clearing, Puree hit the stage and it was obvious from the start they were relishing the opportunity to play on such a large stage and to possibly the biggest crowd they have ever played in front of. They were well received and I will certainly be looking out for them in the future.

Mums Favourite were also good with a mixture of bluesy hard rock originals and covers. Their powerhouse performances included explosive covers of Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand and Hearts Barracuda. Singer Sasha had all the right rock moves out front of the band. Dave Gleeson later laughingly said, when acknowledging the band, “They named themselves after me”.

The Australian Rock Collective are renowned around the country as going out and performing classic albums live, like Neil Young’s Harvest and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Minus Davey Lane for this performance, Kram (Spiderbait), Mark Wilson (Jet) and Darren Middelton (Powderfinger) were joined by James Fleming on keyboards and Talei Wolfgramm on backing vocals. Kram started the evening by getting everyone to say “F*%k, and I mean in a loving way, with affection”. Naturally the crowd obliged. Rather than play an album, they chose to just play classic rock songs, Kram on vocals for Alone with You Tonight, Neil Young’s Old Man and the Beatles Get Back. Darren took vocals on Never Tear Us Apart, Streets of Your Town, Before Too Long and I Got You while Talei got her chance in the spotlight with the Easybeats I’ll Make You Happy. A good solid set that got the crowd revved up for the bands to come.

The Screaming Jets came out full of energy and this energy never let up for the whole set. Dave Gleeson is the consummate front man, running all over the stage, always with a smile on his face. C’mon opened, with their two “covers” hits following in Eve of Destruction and Shivers. The band have a new album out in Professional Misconduct and the opening track Nothing to Lose shows the band haven’t lost the ability to rock. Dave acknowledged the passing of their bass player, Paul Woseen, earlier this year, when announcing another track off the new album, Second Chance, which was written by Paul. The bands time on stage was short so it was the classics that were rolled out in Better and Helping Hand before finishing the set with a surprising, but thunderous, cover of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World. A great set from the band, but Dave still can’t dance on stage.

Baby Animals launched into Rush You accompanied by a series of flames in front of the stage. The heat was on, onstage and off stage. Suze DeMarchi may not be as active as Dave Gleeson but she and the band certainly have class. “It’s always great to be back in Adelaide’ Suze announced, “a bit of car racing and rock ‘n roll”. Again, it was a case of give the punters, who had been sitting out in the sun all day watching car races, what they want. Painless, Break My Heart, One Word were all rolled out to the crowd, who were lapping every song up. Guitarist Dave Leslie took centre stage for a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Fire, handling the vocals admirably. One Too Many followed before Suze put down her guitar and became a “true” lead singer for Ain’t Gonna Get. A powerful set from a class act and Suze can dance on stage.

Multi-instrumentalist William Barton walked onstage with guitar and didgeridoo, playing both and singing during an eerie tune until the band Icehouse slowly emerged from the dark with the strains of the song Icehouse commencing. The large video screen behind the band came to life with stunning images during the song (and every song of the evening). Iva Davies was last on stage, looking smart in a black leather jacket.

The fifteen-song set was a greatest hits package to die for. Electric Blue, Love in Motion, Crazy and No Promises all quickly followed each other. Iva introduced Michael Paynter and asked him to come forward to help with the vocals on Touch the Fire and then getting him on lead vocals for Man of Colours. Hugo Lee stepped forward playing a brilliant sax solo for the introduction of Don’t Believe Anymore, one of the highlights of the set. William Barton came back on-stage playing didgeridoo on Great Southern Land with out-and-out stunning visuals on the giant screen behind the band. Surely this song is a contender for our national anthem.

Iva then introduced the Brewster Brothers, Rick and John, from The Angels to help with one of their songs, Marseilles which went down a treat and the two guitarist stayed on stage for set closer, We Can get Together. Encore consisted of Can’t Help Myself and Nothing to Serious and the band left the stage and the crowd left the race track, smiling, having seen six great bands put on an evening of electrifying rock and roll.

Live Review By Geoff Jenke