A Vision In Brown

Friday nights and pub shows are generally getting more and more incompatible with me. I’m getting a little bit old and crotchety when it comes to being squeezed into a relatively small space, especially when tall people stand right in front of me and my mates for no obvious reason – after all, we’re not obstructing their view, so why should they obstruct ours? Are they really so hung up on getting just that 30 cm closer to the main attraction? Then again, if it’s Dan Kelly and his merry men, I suppose I can kind of understand …

Since this show had been billed as the CD launch for Dan and The Alpha Males’ second long-player, I wasn’t too sure what the set would be like. Would it be a shameless flogging of new material or plenty of crowd-pleasers? The boys delivered just the right mix. There was plenty of new stuff from the new album – probably already familiar to gig stalwarts – including the toe-tapping inducer, “The Landscape Gardener’s Dream”, “I Will Release Myself Unto You” and the truly poetic “My Brains Are on Fire”. The self-deprecating “A Lonely Coconut” got the royal treatment with Dan picturing himself as a ‘vision in brown’ with the aid of the lovely UkeLadies, Gareth (thanks-for-coming) Liddiard on saxophone and that Andrew guy on trumpet. It’s a gorgeous tune, but am I alone in thinking that it’s kinda hard to believe that Dan would find it difficult to get a date??


What made this show a little different from past Alpha Males shows was the amount of banter in between songs. Much of this was actually provided by Dan Luscombe, who was, I hate to admit, in fine form all evening. With Christian on drums, he produced a rollicking version of "Chariots of Fire". However, amongst all Dan's quips – ranging from his chosen attire for the evening, to the issue of last week’s InPress front cover, to Lewis’s verbosity in the Tarago – the most memorable (and accurate) went something like this …
Dan K: This guitar’s not tuned correctly.
Dan L: We’re going to turn into Augie March … my pedal’s not right, this and that aren’t right …
Well said!

As well as the newer stuff, we were also treated to plenty of offerings from The Tabloid Blues, such as “Lutheran Hall” and “Checkout Cutie”. The boys were joined by Miles on the Moog for the ominous "All On My Lonesome" and fortunately, Dan Luscombe managed to not incur a hernia while contributing to “Step Forward”. The Kinks' gorgeous “Mountain Man”, which seems to be becoming a live staple was also included, as was “Drunk On Election Night”. Apart from Dan Kelly’s great (though still endearingly self-conscious) anecdotes and very natural story-telling – like playing to three people in Geelong and the guy who really took to the expletives in “Election Night” – the real highlight of the evening was “Pregnant Conversation”. Last time I heard this was probably at The Spiegeltent last year and it’s pretty rare to hear it at a rowdy gig. Somehow though, alone on stage, Dan managed to cut through the crowd’s babble and shut them up with this tender tale.

Which is exactly how such a good song is meant to work.