Powderfinger @ Brixton Academy

As you may recall, we were supposed to go and see Powderfinger play in April this year, but they had to reschedule their concerts due to the volcanic ash cloud. The shows were rescheduled for the Friday and Saturday night just gone, so for the last two evenings, my home away from home has been my favourite concert venue, Brixton Academy.

The support act was Bob Evans, who Louise informed us before the show is actually Kevin Mitchell, the lead singer from Jebediah. I wasn’t all that familiar with his music, but he sounded quite good on stage – though given that he’s one man on acoustic guitar, he had a bit of trouble filling the entire venue with sound.

On both nights, Powderfinger came on around 9:30 PM, and both times opened with Burn Your Name. This was one of only a few tracks that they played from Golden Rule; overall, these were definitely “Greatest Hits” concerts, with tracks like Already Gone, Thrilloilogy, Sunsets, On My Mind, Lost and Running, Nobody Sees, Bless My Soul, Waiting For The Sun, My Happiness, Passenger, Don’t Wanna Be Left Out, and My Kind Of Scene.

The band seemed a lot more relaxed on the second night, and focused on just having a good time up on stage. The set list was mainly the same as the first night, but they had a few substitutions – I was stoked to hear them play Love Your Way, which is another one of my favourites. They also put a “tag” in the middle of On My Mind by cutting to a few verses of Piano Man Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones, before cutting back to finish the song.

Another highlight from night two was Pick You Up. They had played it on the first night, with the disclaimer from Darren (one of the guitarists) that “heaps of you probably won’t know this song, because it’s so old” – but of course, everyone did know it! On the second night, Bernard talked about how supportive everyone around the world had been of the band, but that (outside of Australia) they always had received the best reception from the crowds in London. It’s probably because there’s so many Aussies here! They dedicated the song to “all those people that have come from the other side of the world”. Bernard gave everyone a knowing look when he sang the line, “When you are far from home” – which of course was received with loads of applause.

Both nights they did two encores, and each night they finished with “These Days”. It seemed a fitting way to say goodbye to London; after 20 years together, there’s no doubt that things turned out nothing like they’d planned.

I meant to take more video of the concert last night, but unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera battery, so I only got the last minute of These Days before the battery died.