Powderfinger’s Sunday night show – the second of a three-night Tivoli residency – undoubtedly met and exceeded the expectations of the capacity crowd. The first few shows of this Upstairs At The Downstairs tour have already produced some thrilling throwbacks to their earlier releases.
The first half of the show found the Brisbane five-piece in a subdued acoustic mode, flanked by an impressive painted backdrop featuring clocks and a conspicuous door. The crowd was in full voice from the outset, exceeding Bernard Fanning’s vocals during My Kinda Scene and These Days. Surprises came in the form of Internationalist gem Capoicity, a Darren Middleton-led JC and a warped country-funk version of Bless My Soul. The furthest they delved into their back catalogue was a performance of 1995 Save Your Skin b-side Sweet Lip.
After leaving via the stage door and indulging in a healthy intermission, they reappeared onstage, and appeared much more comfortable fully electrified and amplified. Vulture Street cuts Stumblin’ and Since You’ve Been Gone proved a forceful opening combination; A Song Called Everything from the same release was dusted off for a rare – and still somewhat dusty – performance. Double Allergic track and first breakthrough single Pick You Up drew an enormous response, while On My Mind and a couple of Dream Days At The Hotel Existence cuts rounded out the standard set. A sole encore of Passenger featuring a trumpeter concluded the evening.
Stepping outside of their comfort zone was the essence of what the band wanted to achieve by allowing fans to influence the tour’s setlist through online voting. Though we could all easily name another dozen songs that we’d like to hear, Powderfinger acknowledged that while they can’t please everybody, they at least attempted to please most of us. And for this, they must be admired.
Check back tomorrow for full coverage of the Monday night Tivoli show on FasterLouder!
