Eskimo Joe with WASO
23.03.2018
Review: Eskimo Joe with WASO at Perth Concert Hall — 25 February 2018 — musicinsight.com.au
To say sitting politely waiting for Eskimo Joe to walk on stage felt unusual is an understatement. It felt positively weird waiting for the iconic Aussie band to arrive without a pint or a Sunday session in sight. They’re an iconic Australian band, and the memories of pub gigs and black jeans are still strong.
But tonight was different as WA’s favourite, homegrown indie band joined forces with the WA Symphony Orchestra to perform one of two shows at the wonderful Perth Concert Hall. The venue is well-known to have some of the best acoustics in Australia, if not the southern hemisphere, and as soon as WASO walked onto the stage you could feel the anticipation rising. Venerable conductor Iain Grandage was at the helm, and his stage presence was immediately larger than life.
Kav Temperley, Stu McLeod and Joel Quartermain arrived on stage and – with the tiniest stutter – launched straight into ‘Comfort You’ from their 2006 number one album Black Fingernails, Red Wine. A nice way to warm up, but the crown really got excited (as much as it could in such elegant surroundings) when they followed up with the powerful ‘New York’. As big and bold as the city, this track really got the crowd out of first gear.
Despite Kav Temperley and the band’s quips and anecdotes, there was a sense of nervousness about the stage. Out of their comfort zone perhaps? At times drummer Joel Quartermain seemed visibly uncomfortable, even leaving the stage at one point. Although it must be said Quartermain was multi-tasking like a madman, playing drums, guitar and singing backing vocals – a stressful job for anyone.
WASO, as usual, was exceptional, with the animated Grandage clearly thrilled to be there. The orchestra-meets-rock band is a well-known formula these days, and WASO’s collaborations are endlessly popular because they do it so well.
Despite such commercial success, Eskimo Joe don’t have huge radio airplay these days, so watching them as they rolled out hit after hit was nostalgic to say the least.
musicinsight.com.au“It was a quality performance by both Eskimo Joe and WASO... certainly an experience to remember.”
Highlights included ‘Liar’ from their debut album Girl, ‘From the Sea’, and ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’. It was ‘Breaking Up’ which nearly blew the roof off the Concert Hall midway through the set. The band closed with ‘Sky’s on Fire’ from the 2011 album Ghosts of the Past, after abruptly announcing “there will be no encore”.
It was a quality performance by both Eskimo Joe and WASO, and watching them perform in such a beautiful venue was certainly an experience to remember. Although we can’t help feeling it would have been more comfortable with a beer in hand, being bumped around by the crowd.
Review: Maud Kay
February 27, 2018
musicinsight.com.au