Fun Lovin’ Criminals @ UniBar, Adelaide 23/2/2024
Fun Lovin’ Criminals (FLC) hit the scene in 1996 with their debut album Come Find Yourself which contained the breakout single Scooby Snacks. This tour celebrates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 100% Colombian album. It was this album, which I won in a competition back in 1998, that steered me personally on the path of lovin’ this band.
With no support band, Fun Lovin’ Criminals strolled on stage to the sound of Frank Sinatra singing New York, New York and straight into their signature tune The Fun Lovin’ Criminal. Original member Brian Leiser was a busy boy, played harmonica and trumpet, as well as keyboard and singing on the tune. The opening five numbers were from the 1996 debut album Come Find Yourself with “some New York funk” following the opening track, in King of New York. “It’s good to be back” announced Brian after the song, “Last time we were here was twenty years ago when we were young, now we are just F%*ked”. Smoke ‘Em was dedicated to “the young lad that acquired some grass for us” and Passive Aggressive gave off a nice Beastie Boys vibe. Bombin’ the L rounded out the first section of the set.
As the tour was for the twenty-fifth anniversary of 100% Colombian album, Brian said “Last time we were here we didn’t play all the songs of the album, but tonight we will”, and they did. Running in track order, they started with Up on the Hill and followed it with “our tip to Barry White”, a smooth, beautiful run through of Love Unlimited. The “smooth” continued with a very laid back The View Belongs to Everyone.
With a “Let’s turn it up now”, they did indeed turn it up for Korean Bodega with some very tasty guitar work from new boy in the band, Naim Cortazzi and some heavy drums from Frank Benbini. Indeed, the band were very capable of playing hard and heavy, as Southside showed. With it’s Led Zeppelin undertone intro, this was a highlight of the evening.
And then back to some smooth funk in All My Time with Brian playing trumpet and keyboard at the same time. FLC didn’t leave the blues out either with a fine rendition of Mini Bar Blues, before Big Night closed out the set and the band left the stage for a short intermission.
Fun Lovin’ Criminals returned with “Adelaide, you ready for some hip hop?” and launched into We the 3 before a run of three songs from the Loco album, in Loco, Run Daddy Run and a spellbinding There was a Time, Naim playing some great guitar with a solid beat from Brian and Frank behind him. Wonderful!
“We only play this song on this night. And what night it is?” “Friday” replied the crowd and FLC played the song Friday Night. With a crowd already high on the music, Scooby Snacks took them to another level before all three members grabbed a microphone each, rapping out the evening with Bear Hug, all three stalking around the stage as all good rappers do.
Leaving the venue hearing Vera Lynn singing, We’ll Meet Again over the P.A. the band left the stage and we all left the venue, a little happier than we entered, after seeing Fun Lovin’ Criminals.
Live Review By Geoff Jenke