Supports: Adam Young & Panic Syndrome
Factory Theatre, Sydney
Friday, 16th of March 2018
The appeal of Scottish band Big Country is in their ability to combine Celtic melodies and harness them with rock anthems and percussion. As such, given their hit song ‘In A Big Country’ from the debut album The Crossing happened during an era that catapulted bands like U2 and Simple Minds into global fame, many thought they would continue on that trajectory. The band continued to release some great material but inevitably fell apart in the wake of the death of their front man. However, recently reunited where possible and having finally toured Australia a couple of years back, Big Country returned with a tour that included playing The Crossing plus an encore of greatest hits. In actual fact, they played the bulk of the album on this latest tour with a bunch of songs from other albums without deviating too far from the initial intent. One of their stylistic aspects is using delays effects to push or accentuate rhythms with the bass adding the drone of bag pipes whilst still managing to create a catchy song. It was interesting to hear that in a live setting.
Adam Young was reportedly the first support act on tonight but public transport woes meant this reviewer wasn’t able to see his set. However, the next support act immediately on before Big Country was again something very different in the form of Panic Syndrome, a five piece dark wave band. Front man Ash Rothschild, [ex-Caligula, Graveyard Rockstars] was in his element given the songs presented and took to the role with minimal fuss. His two guitarists in the band are the somewhat reserved Mark Tobin and the intriguingly animated Josh Shipton. The title track from their 2017 album Lost brought out the down tuned guitar riffs with open verses and a guitar interlude part that was slow, melodic and then harmonised. Rothschild’s vocals have a slight Robert Smith of The Cure approach in delivery with backing vocals adding depth. However, there was a strange divide between the crowd and the band this evening with the floor area sparse as people appeared reticent to get into the band’s songs initially.
The fuller sound of guitars came from ringing out notes and when the faster song ‘As the Memories Burn’ was played, some embellishments was added whilst Kyle Barr’s drumming and Damien Gillett’s bass playing kept a solid musical foundation intact as the vocal line filled out the sound. Their next song, ‘Forever this Time’ had a slow rhythm section part to build the song as guitars dropped in notes and let them ring out followed by a melodic chorus. ‘Wake Me When It’s Over’ had a pop vibe with some slow guitar parts that suited the song. Shipton took it upon himself to offer comic relief here and there offering thanks for beverages from yeast and bubbles, berating lack lustre audience responses or thanking Big Country for educating them about English football. They closed their set with ‘Victims’, their first single from Lost, which had a good momentum and an effective guitar line from Tobin, played nicely under the chorus and other song sections. Panic Syndrome were pretty decent but the audience needed time to warm to their style although some of the crowd didn’t mind them at all.
When Big Country casually wandered onto the stage following the usual sound checks procedures, they took up their positions spread evenly across stage as the light piano introduction of the H.G. Wells inspired ‘Porrohman’ from The Crossing played over the PA. The five-piece band consisted of guitarist Bruce Watson in a cut off chequered shirt with a Telecaster guitar, his son Jamie Watson on a Stratocaster, bassist Scott Whitley with his Chowny signature bass, vocalist Simon Hough with an acoustic guitar and the percussive maestro Mark Brzezicki. All band members contributed vocals and of the band, Bruce Watson was the most energetic as the songs progressed and his big sound that filled the venue gave him more energy to almost bounce around the stage. As the opening song ‘Porrohman’ morphed into drums and guitar led parts that built momentum to the chorus during with the well-oiled crowd sang along. Hough’s vocals had a higher register as the guitar sounds included a bag pipes drone changing to a distorted tone with percussive guitar elements that were similar [or possibly preceded] U2’s ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’.
Bruce Watson took the role of delivering banter throughout the night in a friendly manner with his noticeable accent allowing him to get away with some swiftly dropped profanities in his jest filled comments. The vocal driven ‘1000 Stars ‘was next which included some great rhythmic guitar parts that had a more driving feel at it progressed. ‘Look Away’ followed and even as a more pop oriented song from The Seer, the chorus had the crowd in full voice. The song’s arrangements are great with the brief post chorus guitar solo and other sections adding a Celtic vibe. The band written title song from second album Steeltown which was recorded at Abba’s Polar Studios in Sweden offered some good twin guitar playing and a solid drum attack with the bass line powering along. Also from that album, ‘Just a Shadow’ demonstrated some great vocal harmonies and more dual guitar interplay.
Returning to the feature album of the night, the next track to be played from The Crossing was ‘Lost Patrol’ which was a show highlight. The audience jumped along and enthusiastically engaged in call and response parts with the band. The climbing guitar lines slinked around the chorus parts and drumming embellishments over repeated riffs were expressive so the band was reactive to the audience being into the song. ‘Close Action’ was next and allowed Josh Shipton from Panic Syndrome to sit behind Jamie’s rig for part of the next song after some playful banter with the guitarists. The guitar based song had a slight gallop to it and some post chorus guitar interludes.
Hough went off stage for a bit to address a broken guitar string so the band was a four piece for ‘Fragile Thing’ from the more recent Driving to Damascus album. It was a gentle ballad with Bruce Watson covering the vocals, no doubt in tribute to the late Stuart Adamson who died a couple of years after that album was released.
Simon returned to the stage and the band performed the jangly yet heavier, more staccato song ‘Inwards’. After that song, ‘Chance’ was the next feature album track full of great chiming guitar lines filling the room and which had Simon lead the crowd in a sing along chorus. The single ‘Wonderland’, which was released between their first and second albums, followed with a bass guitar introduction leading into big guitar chords and a catchy chorus. ‘Fields of Fire (400 Miles)’ again from The Crossing pitted a guitar with a bag pipes sound and octave lines against a raw rhythm guitar and drums sound similar to say The Clash in delivery before a unifying chorus sing along. The breakdown section included handclaps and a brief rendition of the traditional Irish song ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ before returning back to the actual song being played and a climactic ending to the main set.
The final song of the night was the big hit song ‘In a Big Country’ from The Crossing and was of course teased with a drum roll start and percussive guitars hinting at the riff. At an almost too long crescendo, Bruce Watson launched into the opening riff of the signature song. As the held chords and recognisable verse proceeded to the chorus, the crowd sang along to every word. A variety of guitar techniques coaxed the various sounds embedded into the song’s arrangements with the most notable being the bag pipes riff outro leading to the big end of the song.
The show now completed meant the band members took their bows and Brzezicki wandered from behind his drum kit or engine room to the front of the stage to promise a return tour in 2019. He also thanked everyone for coming along to ‘celebrate the music and wonderful lyrics of Stuart Adamson’. Big Country might not have played ‘The Storm’ and ‘Harvest Home’ tonight but they covered everything else from The Crossing and added relevant material from that era so it was a perfectly pitched set list and was delivered with enthusiasm and a great live sound.
Porrohman
1000 Stars
Look Away
Steeltown
Just a Shadow
Lost Patrol
Close Action
Fragile Thing
Inwards
Chance
Wonderland
Fields of Fire (400 Miles)
In a Big Country.