The Living End @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 14/11/2025
‘I Only Trust Rock & Roll!’
The Living End certainly honour that creed and a full house at Hindley Street Music Hall is a testament to that. The Living End don’t do anything by halves going full throttle start to end from start to finish leaving nothing on the table. The affinity between Adelaide and The Living End is super strong which goes back many years over the journey. The crowd vibe and energy was next level making it a wild, loud and raucous Friday night.
The format of the show was two sets with set one being focused on the new album I Only Trust Rock n Roll, plus songs from the vault and other timeless classics from an illustrious career. Set two was like the jewel in the crown with their debut self-titled album played in its entirety in order from start to end. Like a freight train barrelling down the turbo charged opening of Alfie, Roll On and Roller got the crowd up and about. Pictures In The Mirror was well primed going down a treat with Chris Cheney suggesting it was time to “crank it up Adelaide”. The visuals on screen were fantastic adding that Midas touch to the performance.
Hold Up was followed by a quick story of having to be careful wearing leather pants walking down Hindley Street giving a bit more insight to “massage parlours” along the street. Questioning what is real and what isn’t with Hey Hey Disbelievers making the point that Adelaide audiences are real as are three guys playing real instruments. The title track of the new album is an absolute ripper and how can you go past the opening riffs of How Do We Know. There was a moment of reflection casting their collective minds back to 1996 starting out as a covers band and attempting to write their own songs which was described by Cheney as “that bad they wouldn’t give them to an Australian Idol contestant”. Finishing set one on another bolter from the new album in Misery brought things to a blistering end with a short intermission.
Set two was brilliant and The Living End’s self-titled album which came out in 1998 still stacks up with the best of them. The legacy it has built and continues to grow is one that the band should be immensely proud of. The archival footage added a dash of nostalgia but when you are opening with a song of the calibre of Prisoner Of Society not only makes you walk ten foot taller but makes you unbeatable. Watching the crowd react to these songs was priceless and singing them with much gusto and emotional weight makes them mean all the more. The album is loaded with anthems and Cheney gave the faith the licence to “be as irresponsible and stupid as you like, it’s the nineties all over”.
Second Solution, Save The Day, All Torn Down and West End Riot were massive moments with the crowd going off. Take nothing away from the likes of Bloody Mary, Monday and ska influenced Trapped. Another quotable quote from Cheney “we’re all going to die, but not yet, sing your arses off”. The crowd did just that with on the evergreen West End Riot with set two ending on the instrumental Closing In. The encore would have been a tough choice with so many top shelf songs left they could have drawn on finishing with White Noise and Uncle Harry. What a way to kick start the weekend.
Live Review By Rob Lyon