I had the honor of attending the first American performance of the new INXS tour here in Seattle Thursday night, and it kicked ASS!!! I couldn’t stand JD during the competition, but the boy can deliver on stage! The set was gorgeous, the band was tight , and it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to! I was lucky enough to be there with three Aussie friends from work (who I am forever grateful to for talking me into going), and it was great fun to get their impressions - INXS is back and better than ever!
They kicked it off with Suicide Blonde, and from that point on, there were very few people sitting. I haven’t been to a rock concert in about 20 years, but it was worth the wait. Their older stuff was better received than the new, but that will change as people become more familiar with Switch . The new music is strong and surprisingly edgy.
The concert opened with Marty Casey and the Lovehammers, and while it was great to see the Crazy Conductor back, I have to say that there wasn’t a lot of variety or inspiration in their music. Marty on his own is a fascinating performer - with the group, he gets lost in the meh. I think they will be a moderate success, but there’s just not enough there to distinguish them from the other music out said.
Main impressions: somebody needs to feed Marty a lot of sandwiches, JD needs to leave his crotch alone, the girl in the sparkly tube top writhing for the band needed to quit turning around to see if everyone was noticing how fabulous she was, and Garry Beers is friggin’ HOT!! and of course, the music, the music, the music! Damn, that was a great concert!
I’m not at all surprised. I was one of the few in the ongoing threads who liked JD. Still do. Very good singer. Great stage presence. Good fit for the band. So I’m glad everything worked out for him and for the band. That said, Suzy’s Bohemian Rhapsody still stands as the best performance of the competition. (We even still have it on DVR.)