When I saw Hunters & Collectors the first time, supporting
Midnight Oil in a hockey arena in Stockholm in April 1990, I came away
disappointed. H&C radiated unhappiness, weren't very tight and seemed
intimidated by the size of the venue. I've always thought they just
had a bad day back then, and so expected this gig at the rock club
Gino in Stockholm to be much better.
It was about an hour or so to go before the gig would start when I
arrived at the venue, so I checked out the place and studied the H&C
set list on the stage floor. I asked the doorman if there would be any
H&C merchandise for sale. "I think so... but I think that it'll be
after the gig", he replied. About 9.40 p.m. I put myself near the
centre of the stage, about three metres away from the stage. Crap
dance music was being played over the PA system.
The support act was David McComb, former singer/songwriter/leader
of Triffids, and his band The Red Ponies. The Triffids used to be
quite popular in Sweden (in fact, their live album was recorded here
and is titled "Stockholm"), and I think a lot of people were curious
to hear songs from McComb's debut solo CD "Love Of Will", which like
H&C's "Demon Flower" had been released just the week before
here. Personally, I had never really heard Triffids' music, so I
didn't know what to expect.
McComb and his band entered the stage. The crap dance music was still
being played over the PA system, but McComb gave Gino's DJ the evil
eye and (finally!) the music was turned off. McComb's band featured a
guitarist, a keyboardist, a bassist, a drummer, a crazy violinist and
McComb himself on vocals and rhytm guitar. The guitarist (who also
played pedal steel guitar) looked like a Biochemistry professor but
was very talented. (I have later found out that his name is Evil
Graham Lee, and that he too used to be a member of the Triffids) The
award for the hippest stage presence, though, went to the "crazy"
violinist. If you can imagine a spasmic person high on various drugs
playing frenzied violin solos then you've got a good idea of what he
was like...
Anyway. McComb & The Red Ponies played 12 tracks, mainly from his new
album but also a few Triffids tracks and also covers by Velvet
Underground and Leonard Cohen/Phil Spector ("Memories"). I was very
impressed with the songs and McComb's voice, which is brilliant, and
decided to check out his solo album. Very good indeed. McComb and his
band finished their set at 10.45 p.m. Blinds were rolled down and
roadies began working on the stage (behind the blinds).
SET LIST:
1. Unmade Love
2. Clear Out My Mind
3. Setting You Free
4. In The Pines
5. Image Of Love (?)
6. I Can't Stay No More
7. Lifelike
8. Raining Pleasure
9. Memories
10. I Want To Conquer You
11. Sign Your Name (?)
12. How Can I Help But Love You
At 11.20 p.m. the blinds went up and the audience began cheering
enthusiastically. Hunters & Collectors, minus Jack Howard and Michael
Waters, entered the stage and started with "Betrayer" off the new
album. It sounded really great, full of energy and power. Mark didn't
play any guitar on this one, but gave it all he had, vocally. A roadie
gave Mark his guitar and Jack and Michael got on stage before the next
track. Barry Palmer and John Archer were on my left, Mark Seymour in
front of me, Doug Falconer behind him, and Jeremy Smith, Jack Howard
and Michael Waters were on my right. Mark looked extremely much like
his bro', the only difference that I noticed was that Mark has shorter
hair and plays guitar instead of bass... :-)
Anyway, H&C continued their set with superb versions of two "Demon
Flower" tracks, "Easy" and "The One And Only You", both of which got a
great response from the audience, but throughout the gig it became
obvious to me that most of the audience hadn't heard "Demon Flower"
yet. When H&C began playing "Blind Eye" the audience became even more
enthusiastic and sang along for every word of the song. It was an
excellent rendition. The next track was "Head Above Water". This is
probably my least favourite H&C track, and I think they made it even
worse by really letting loose towards the end - they did a loud noisy
'rocking out' type of thing. To be honest, I would have been happier
if they had played a track like "Grindstone" instead.
After this, the concert became really great again, with two "Human
Frailty" tracks, "Stuck On You" and "Dog" being real
crowd-pleasers. Especially for the guy standing next to me. Throughout
the concert, he cheered and sang along for all "Human Frailty", but
looked really bored and annoyed, almost as if he was personally
offended, when they played tracks from any other album. "Dog" was
followed by 'a track recorded in Cologne a long time ago'. It was "42
Wheels" from the "The Jaws Of Life" album. It sounded very good and
Barry did some brilliant guitarplaying in this one. "Back In The
Hole", one of my absolute favourites on the new album, was next and it
was really GREAT live, with superb singing by Mark. Definitely one of
the concert's highlights! H&C continued with "Say Goodbye", another
crowd-pleaser with lots of audience singalong (and the guy standing
next to me became very enthused too as it was a "Human Frailty"
track), and then the quiet "Mr. Bigmouth" from the new album, with
more great singing by Mark.
'I`ve been doing a lot of press the last few days', Mark said.'The
two most asked questions are `When will you make it in America?` and
`Are you a political band?`...we are a political band.' I thought they
would play "Courtship Of America" after this but instead we got a
fantastic rendition of "Hear No Evil", one of my all-time favourite
H&C tracks. It was another concert highlight. The next song was
another goodie, "Drop In The Ocean". Mark forgot the words to this
song - after he had sung the first line he was silent for a couple of
bars, and you could see he really tried to remember the words. He
cracked up laughing and looked a little embarrassed, and then sang the
last two lines of the first verse. After the guitar solo, when he was
to sing the last verse, he sang the second verse again instead. A very
powerful "When The River Runs Dry" followed. The audience was crazy
about this one, and justifiably so. It was a killer version which blew
away both the great album version and the shoddy rendition of this
song at the concert in '90. You could really tell that H&C were on top
form this evening.
The song which got the greatest response, though, was the next one,
"Holy Grail", which got the audience cheering very enthusiastically,
singing along and jumping up and down etc... that is, except for the
guy standing next to me, who realised that this track wasn't from
"Human Frailty", so in order to show his disapproval he stood with his
arms crossed, looking extremely bored and annoyed. After this track,
H&C left the stage.
Naturally, the crowd went very vocal, wanting to hear more. A roadie
looking a bit lost walked across the stage as if he was looking for
something. H&C came back to the stage under enormous cheering from the
crowd, and the band looked very happy with the audience's uninhibited
love for them. 'I thought Sweden was the hate nation', Mark said
jokingly. Upon seeing that nobody understood what he meant, he went
on, 'The beer costs so much... but it's so close to the Arctic
circle'. The first encore was "True Tears Of Joy" which was followed
by "Everything's On Fire" (one of only 4 tracks which were also played
at the concert in 1990). Some guys in the front row called out 'We
want `Judas Sheep`!' a few times. The band heard them, and John played
a few bass chords from the song in question, but that was it. Instead,
H&C played a great version of "Where Do You Go?". After that, Mark
said 'Goodnight Sweden - we`ll see you in Hultsfred." Hultsfred is a
small village in the south of Sweden with a few thousand citizens, and
this place is mainly known for its annual rock festival in August. H&C
were to do a gig in Hultsfred two days later (23rd April).
It wasn't over yet. The crowd was still bursting of enthusiasm for H&C
and wanted more. The same roadie as before walked across the stage,
again looking rather lost, and then H&C returned to the stage, much to
the crowd's delight. The group looked genuinely surprised and happy
about being so popular, and it was obvious they had only calculated
with doing one set of encores. 'This is a Country and Western song
about Bette Davis`s eyes', Mark said, and I couldn't even imagine
which song this could be. It turned out to be "You Stole My Thunder"
which sounded very good live. After a crowd-pleasing and powerful
version of "Do You See What I See?" the band left the stage again.
We the fans still wanted to hear more, and following the now
traditional walk across the stage by the lost-looking roadie, H&C came
back for a 3rd set of encores. John and Barry came from the left side
of the stage, and the others came from the right side. Mark approached
John and Barry and said a few words, presumably to tell them what the
band would play, as this encore seemed decidedly spontaneous. Mark
then signalled to sound engineer Robert Miles, H&C's 8th member, who
was sitting above John and Barry at the left side of the stage, and
the band began playing "The Slab". This was another favourite with the
audience. When Mark sang 'I know it`s true, but I just can`t say it',
the audience spontaneously provided the 'Say it! Say it! Say it!' from
the record version. After this track, H&C left the stage for the final
time, a fact which you could deduct from the non-appearance of the
lost-looking roadie... :-) 'Good night! God bless you all!' Mark said
as he walked off the stage. It was obvious that the band were very
happy with the gig and the audience's enthusiasm. It was now 1.05
a.m. Hunters had been on stage for about 100 minutes and had performed
no less than 21 tracks.
I think it was an absolutely fantastic gig and definitely one of the
best concerts I have ever been to. H&C really seemed to enjoy
themselves and each band member was on top form. The track selection
was very good indeed with a good balance between new and old
tracks. Most songs were better than their album versions, and the
"Demon Flower" tracks fitted in very well with the older tracks. I
think many in the audience went out and bought "Demon Flower" in the
days after the gig (probably not the guy standing next to me during
the gig, though - he probably went home and sulked about the fact that
the new album isn't a re-issue of "Human Frailty"). Special thanks to
Robert Miles and Gino's volume restrictions for keeping the volume at
the gig at an excellent level. For the first gig in a long time (by
any band) I could come home without ringing in my ears. For me, whose
biggest fear is being diagnosed with tinnitus before I turn 30, that
was really appreciated.
To sum things up, this was a great gig in all respects and if you get
the opportunity to see H&C live - do so!!!
SET LIST:
1. Betrayer
2. Easy
3. The One And Only You
4. Blind Eye
5. Head Above Water
6. Stuck On You
7. Dog
8. 42 Wheels
9. Back In The Hole
10. Say Goodbye
11. Mr. Bigmouth
12. Hear No Evil
13. Drop In The Ocean
14. When The River Runs Dry
15. Holy Grail
ENCORE 1:
16. True Tears Of Joy
17. Everything's On Fire
18. Where Do You Go?
ENCORE 2:
19. You Stole My Thunder
20. Do You See What I See?
ENCORE 3:
21. The Slab