Photo: Loretta Mihaljek
Needing no introduction, but receiving one anyway, The Fumes leapt on stage to bash out the furious 'Slay the Liar' from their latest album. The slogan "Riot Not Diet", stuck to hairy frontman Steve Merry's Fender Strat, aptly encapsulated the tone of the evening: a thick, relentless, hefty sound with very few spare moments for silence.
Five years of apparently nonstop touring seem to have leant the Sydney loud blues-rock duo a faultless onstage dynamic, sustaining the show's initial intensity until patrons' legs are sore from frenzied tapping and knee-slapping, and large areas of carpet refuse to soak up another drop of spilled beer.
Causing the largest outbreak of above-mentioned activities was 'Automobile', a soon-to-be high-rotation track to follow up the success of 'Python for a Pillow'. The rock-heavy leanings of the show's first half were contrasted with a bluesy second half, Merry trading his Strat for a '50s hollow steel guitar filled with pillow stuffing, its paint all but peeled. The instrument's muted tones could well have been those that bluesman Robert Johnson traded his soul for - and at a bargain price.
Gone are the more innocent times when, upon a band walking offstage, any member of the audience could bate their breath in genuine anticipation of an encore that may never be. However, most performers attempt to maintain a semblance of such a scenario, and the audience plays their part in kind by cheering as if they don't know any better. The Fumes, however, removed all mystique from this unspoken concordat by leaving a thus far untouched keyboard for all to see. Needless to say, any feelings of betrayal were quickly assuaged, in this case by Merry's unaccompanied ballad 'Never Gonna Get Back Home'.
Lawrence Bull
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