Nostalgia is a wonderful thing! Pseudo Echo returned to Adelaide to celebrate forty years of Funky Town, a song which has and continues to take on a life of its own building a legacy that cannot be tarnished. It is one of those iconic songs that as soon as you hear it you go, ah, yeah, that’s Pseudo Echo. They are a very a different band to when they started out with mainstay Brian Canham leading the charge along with Andrea Krakovska (guitar), Valentina Taylor (vocals), Danny Ammar (keys), Elliot Orban (drums) and Michael Kasif (keytar). When the band arrived it looked like a scene from a gangster film, whilst they are celebrating nostalgia they look sharp and modern with a forward outlook with an edgier take on their classic new wave identity.
The mood in The Gov was jubilant with part of the room configure in cabaret mode giving fans the best of both worlds whether to dance or sit with a nice beverage taking it all in. A different set list for what is the start of this tour also kept us all guessing but it was Stranger In Me getting the show off to a scintillating start. There was no dialling it in, or going through the motions, Pseudo Echo are in red hot form and this was right up there as one of their very best. Being night one of the tour there was no brushing off the cobwebs either as they were full tilt right from first drop.
His Eyes was equally as powerful and whilst their songs are close to the way they are originally played I really like the fact they are going for more of an edgier, industrial and club inspired vibe. It was a quick “how we doin’ Adelaide” before knocking over Destination Unknown and Don’t Go. The flow of the show was great with no unnecessary stops knocking over hit after hit… and they have loads of them. Eye Of The Storm was stellar then getting the crowd a little more excitable on A Beat For You. Over Tomorrow has firmly established itself as a set staple now with Canham remarking “great that it is a hundred degrees in Adelaide, it’s hot up here”.
Canham took a moment to speak of a couple of the “nostalgia” moments that stood out from the journey including hanging out in Elton John’s penthouse and meeting lyricist Bernie Taupin, having a reefa and writing a shit song after that to meeting Bob Dylan and Tom Petty in a hotel lift in Greece. It was all connected to the idea of living the dream which was the perfect lead in to Living In A Dream. The hits kept coming with Love An Adventure and the uber popular Ike and Tina Turner cover Nutbush City Limits plus Real Life’s Send Me An Angel. Woah! Seriously good!
Another reflection on the journey extended further to talking about supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees and a moment with guitarist Robert Smith (now The Cure), putting flyers and stickers on cars in the carpark after that show to being the first unsigned band to appear on Countdown reliving that moment now with Listening which started it all back in 1983. Moments in the set don’t get any bigger that Funky Town to close the main set celebrating a huge forty years. Absolute killer what they have done with this live breaking in to AC/DC’s T.N.T. and Deep Purple’s Black Knight. Disappearing and returning quickly for an encore Ultraviolet ending a great night of music. The Funky Town reprise was a great moment for the band to soak up the adulation shown by the Adelaide faithful. On tour now, catch them in a city near you.
Live Review By Rob Lyon