The ten-year anniversary show for The Drones’ sophomore album Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By played out like a nostalgic celebration of one of the most important Australian bands of the current generation. The performance of the 2005 album was almost spiritual. This transcendence was sensed by The Drones frontman Gareth Liddiard, who didn’t address the crowd directly until they’d played the majority of the album’s tracks with impassioned force.
Gigs where bands play an entire album in sequential order can be a little emotionally odd, because live sets tend to save the more popular songs for the end, whereas most albums are the opposite. Case in point, The Drones biggest ‘hit’ Shark Fin Blues was tonight’s first song. As such, from the instant Liddiard launched into the opening riff, all eyes in the mostly 30-plus crowd were glued to the stage. Liddiard stood front and centre, flanked by bass player Fiona Kitschin, drummer Christian Strybosch, keyboardist Steve Hesketh and guitarist Dan Luscombe.
Despite being played first, the worshipped elegy to a doomed fisherman was just as enthralling and emotionally evocative as the first time I had heard it back in 2005. Back then, theMelbourne based band were gaining a surprising amount attention for a unique brand of rock music that shouldn’t have been popular, but it was.
From here, the intensity only increased. The album’s fourth song, Locust, was given a forcefully spiritual rendering. The first half of the song is an exercise in enormity through minimalism, as Liddiard recites a letter from a doomed ex-con to his lover “Georgie”. By the time the band arrived at This Time, the final song on Wait Long By The River, you couldn’t help but feel a sense of dramatic irony, as Liddiard sang, “There’s a whole a lot more that’s waiting up ahead this time.”
Thankfully, there was still more to come. After running through the album tracks, The Drones played a few other fan favourites, including a cover of Kev Carmody’s River Of Tears. Then for the encore, primary support act Batpiss joined them on stage to perform a song by 1980s Portland punk act Wipers.
By DAN WATT
Photo by Ian Laidlaw
Loved: Locust.
Hated: Not much.
Drank: Beer.
