The Hoodoo Gurus set off their own blistering fireworks show at their end of year gig in Hobart, as part of the Tasmania’s Taste of Summer Festival.
Of course, the Gurus have carved out a very special niche in Australian indie scene – they were part of an innovative underground movement in Perth, along with bands like The Scientists, which blossomed in isolation, and preceded grunge by more than a decade, melding gritty fuzzy guitars with a sense of inherent style and indelible pop melodies. Later, they jangled more than rumbled with pure pop classics like ‘Bittersweet’.
For me, the band’s debut ‘Stoneage Romeos’ is still one of the best albums ever released in Australia with its gritty primal beats and gravity-defying hair cartoonery. Last year (2024) saw the band celebrate 40 years since the release of that classic and undertake tours across Australia and the US, and proving once again that like a fine wine, so many bands from bygone eras are maturing with a delicious ferocity.
Original members Dave Faulkner and Brad Shepherd are joined by the relatively new recruits Richard (Rick) Grossman on bass and Nik Reith on drums, and the quartet delivered a set that was pulse-quickening, theatrical and euphoric. The audience responded enthusiastically to the band’s sense of on-stage camaraderie and magnetic presence, providing audible backing vocals throughout. Many of the audience members weren’t even close to being born during the band’s emergence, but they participated with gusto and full knowledge of the set and the lyrics. This is an ultimate testimony to the band’s longevity, song-writing skills and live delivery: they remain a vital and exciting musical force.
The set list weighed heavily in favour of Stoneage Romeos and the contribution by Grossman and Reith to the album’s animalistic jungle sound was phenomenal: it almost outrageous that the bass and drums could produce such an eviscerating thunder. The call and response singing in Leilani with audience participation was spine tingling.
The later more commercial songs like ‘Bittersweet’, Miss Freelove ’69 and ‘Come Any Time’ sparkled with luminosity and the recent album ‘Chariots of the Gods’ was well represented by ‘Don’t Try To Save My Soul’ and ‘Equinox’, which seamlessly fitted into the set.
Ultimately, Faulkner was charming and enigmatic, his vocals were as fresh and powerful as the times I saw the band back in the eighties, and the twin guitar attack of Faulkner and Shepherd was excoriating and punchy. Mention must be made of the exceptional sound quality on stage despite an open air stage. Backseat Downunder’s list of best gigs of 2024 was published before this gig, but it would have made the list without a doubt.
Set List
(Let’s All) Turn On
I Want You Back
Don’t Try to Save My Soul
Death Defying
Zanzibar
Dig It Up
My Girl
Hayride to Hell
Crackin’ Up
Tojo
Leilani
Equinox
Come Anytime
The Right Time
Bittersweet
Miss Freelove ’69
1000 Miles Away
I Was a Kamikaze Pilot
Encore:
Be My Guru
What’s My Scene
Like Wow – Wipeout
Feature Photography and Gallery: Arun Kendall
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