18 November 2023 – The Princess Theatre, Brisbane – words & pictures by Bec Harbour
The Brian Jonestown Massacre is one of those bands steeped in legend and are always an interesting gig. Tonight, at the Princess Theatre in Brisbane, this will prove to be no different, with fervent fans and band hijinks abounding.
The openers, Arugula were a nice band and seemed to have quite a few fans in the crowd, in fact they looked like The Brian Jonestown Massacre circa early 90’s. They came on, did their thing and finished up their set without much fanfare.
Arugula – The Princess – photos by Bec Harbour
After the stage was reset for The Brian Jonestown Massacre, the band sans Anton Newcombe came out and took their places. They stood there for a bit then one of the guitarists asked the crowd, “Has anyone seen Anton, he’s about so high…” some subtle wordplay there perhaps?
Anton stepped out from behind an amp stack (was he there all along?) and held a hand up to the cheering crowd. The band then collectively had a mumbled interaction and kicked off into the first song ‘Lucky Kitty’. Ok then.
After second song ‘The Real’ and during one of the lengthy interludes between songs, there was some hooting and calling out from the crowd (who were getting restless – a combination of epic gaps between songs and a bit of drinking). Anton strode to the front of the stage and yelled “OK, you have my attention, now shut your (weed??) holes”. The crowd just heckled him more.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – The Princess – photos by Bec Harbour
Meanwhile, the chief tambourine guy had found a bottle of wine in his vintage suitcase full of tambourines and proceeded to drink this in the everlasting lull between song 2 and 3, while the rest of the band milled around awkwardly on stage waiting for a cue from Anton that they were starting again.
The entire set was punctuated with long gaps between songs with bickering between band members and Anton and the crowd getting more and more restless. We got a really great spread of songs (with plenty of time to run to the bar between) with ‘Fudge’, ‘Do Rainbows Have Ends?’, ‘Pish’ and ‘Your Mind Is My Café’ reminding us all of the flawed brilliance of this collective.
At some point around here, Anton disappears again. With all the goings on with the band I was ready to call it and say the evening wasn’t going to continue, but he came back and told us that he needed to take a piss. Ok then.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – The Princess – photos by Bec Harbour
Before playing ‘Forgotten Graves’, Anton told the crowd he would not be playing a crowd favourite ‘Anemone’ then after this song and a bit more fiddling about asked the band if they wanted to play ‘Nightbird’ or ‘Mother of All Fuckers’ – they played both. They then rounded up the night with ‘Maybe Make It Right’.
I must say I had forgotten how awkward a The Brian Jonestown Massacre gig could be. Anton Newcombe’s expectations for the crowd (and indeed his band) seem to far exceed reality causing him to act like an irascible grump. Australian crowds love them, and see this interaction as an opportunity to heckle him back (no booing like the previous night’s gig in Byron Bay). Fans would have walked away feeling that they had got their money’s worth, people new to The Brian Jonestown Massacre may have been incredibly confused about what they just saw. I was mostly bemused.
