Electric Six, Dandy Buzzkills @ The Gov, Adelaide 30/8/2024
Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
Friday night! Electric Six! The Gov! That’s an awesome combination for what was an awesome show. Electric Six were last here in March 2023 and since then there has been another new album Turquoise to add to their extensive back catalogue. Spiritual leader and modern day visionary Dick Valentine steers a tight ship with Herb S Flavorings (rhythm guitar), Johnny Na$hinal (lead guitar), Dr. J (drums) and Rick Schaple (bass).
First up was local band the Dandy Buzzkills who have been on the scene for a while now but this was the perfect opportunity to play in front of a bigger crowd. I reckon these lads are a band to keep an eye on as they making plenty of the right noises with their unique brand of shoe-gaze flavoured post-punk. They have a stack of good tunes in the kit bag including The Moth, The Light, a ripping cover of The Stranglers Golden Brown topped off with their debut single I Wanna…
Electric Six are a formidable combination and armed with a truck load of great songs to choose from makes the anticipation of what to expect from the live show even greater. Each show is unique mixing up the set list and that was no different at The Gov. No pyros, no fireworks, no one being fired out of a cannon… just a bonafide rock show. Dick Valentine’s is as sharp as a tack and his dry dead pan humour is gold. “Ah, we’ve been here before, we’ve got fifteen albums… buy one” as the band launched in to Turquoise.
Friday night vibes were peaking on maximum and even Valentine himself said “I can feel it!” Dr. K and Mr. Woman was followed by Getting Into The Jam and Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother). It was another classic one-liner from Valentine saying “I believe Adelaide is the greatest city in South Australia and our first five songs are the worst and number six is on the best” having said “we pumped gas earlier today in Mildura”. Electric Six classic Down at McDonnelzzz was turbo charged as was The New Shampoo. Valentine took the jacket off on Gay Bar and flung it over his shoulder catwalk style as the crowd found voice to sing this one.
Valentine remarked that going to a gig on a Friday night is a huge emotional investment “throwing in an extra song for free” with Gay Bar Part Two. It was literally one classic after another with She’s White, Dirty Ball and Hot Numbers On The Telephone. Valentine described Improper Dancing (which morphed in to (Who The Hell Just) Call My Phone?) as what Pacman sees before is shot and that he would be out in the “courtyard” after asking Adelaide fans to shout their story in to a bag to be able to “unleash” on the good people of Perth.
Danger! High Voltage was an epic moment in the set with the crowd singing and dancing proving to be the big highlight of the set. Moving in to the “dance” part of the set it was Synthesizer, Dance Epidemic and I Buy The Drugs to close out the main set. The set list did not reveal anything about the encore keeping it under wraps and as Valentine said they were backstage “taking care of business and we heard you loud and clear!” returning for a big surprise to kick off the first of three songs being Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder On The Dancefloor. Sheer joy and they absolutely nailed it smashing it out of The Gov on to Port Road. A tough one to follow but they ploughed through Hello! I See You finishing on the infamous Dance Commander. Electric Six never disappoint and tonight was no different. Awesome!
Live Review By Rob Lyon