21 December 2024 – The Princess Theatre, Brisbane – words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi – pictures by Bec Harbour
“Hi! We are Custard from Ipswich!” And, it was this statement of intent given half way through the evening that ensured the crowd knew that this Curtains Tour 2024 was going to be a straight up night of no bullshit rock ‘n’ roll and it was going to unveil new music from every band. This was no legacy tour!
Custard unveiled their ninth and newest album Suburban Curtains. The Fauves, on their, Tropical Strength Tour 2024, unleashed their lucky thirteenth new album Tropical Strength and with support from local Brisbane based band The Stress of Leisure, they were, also, delivering a new album It Goes Away With The Heat. After, 127 weeks on the road The Princess Theatre was awash with great sounds, new and old, and that end of tour blow out magic.
The night was full of many jokes about Ipswich, Indooroopilly Woolworths, Dalby, Far North Queensland (FNQ) and a general sense of relief from the bands that 127 weeks on the road was over and people were in home territory – it was time to get loose – as the Great Northern was spilled from cans perched on the amps as offerings to the local music Gods – the air of celebration was palpable. (Except for the poor roadie who had to keep cleaning it up) I am unsure what the overseas visitors from Chile and Texas, USA thought about all of these self-referential nods to Brisbane, but the attitude about being loud and proud, was lapped up (like the beer) by the full capacity, sold out, crowd at The Princess Theatre. The night was going to go off – and it did!
The evening built up inside The Princess Theatre as the DJ spun some unusual tracks. There was an air about the place that the summer solstice was here and Christmas was now ‘a thing’ with rock Christmas carols being played. The crowd built up and then the photographers moved into place and the first band of the evening took to the stage.
The Stress Of Leisure are a four-piece band from Brisbane and they filled The Princess Theatre with a beautiful noise. They have the kind of sound that reaches back in time with an old school indie post punk feel. The electric guitar and vocals of Ian Powne were on fire and the drumming from Jessica Moore was outstanding. How good was the drummer? Great! The Stress Of Leisure’s sound was rounded out by the polished Pascalle Burton on keys and synths with her cute Korg and the non-smiling bassist (who did crack a smile at the end of the set) Jane Elliott. Her timing and rhythm control was fantastic.
The Stress of Leisure – Princess Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
The Stress Of Leisure’s songs are well crafted and the band sounded so polished from the first song ‘Expectate Confrontate’ to the fabulous closer ‘Connect To Connected’. The song I loved the most for them was ‘Song Nightclub Mosquito’ which I thought had that marvellous driving guitar and the whole band’s sound just crystalized around it. For the audience, the best song was ‘Pulled Pork’ where there were many jokes on stage about “democracy, autocracy and ‘pulledporkocracy’ (with BBQ sauce)”, and in the crowd there were jokes about the ‘pork industry’ and ‘getting it on your fork’ going on around me, and one music fan just chanted “pulled pork” for most of the night as he just couldn’t let it go! Until, he got hold of the cowbell – more cowbell! – as Dave McCormack nodded his head at him and said: “Okay”.
The Stress Of Leisure, as a band, were wonderfully engaging and really funny about ‘Dead Men Golfing’, the issues of making a new album starting in 2020 when Trump was President and finishing in 2024 when Trump will become president again – four year cycles – and telling us that “It Goes Away With The Heat” which is their new album and has the great song about sad photographers: ‘Unhappy Wedding Photographer’. From the moment the band hit the stage, it was clear that we were in for a fun night and their set was tight, funny, and sharp.
After a stage re-arrange, the next band to grace the theatre were the Mornington Peninsula favourites: The Fauves.
The Fauves – Princess Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
The Fauves lengthy 36-year tenure in the Australia music industry has seen them outlast several generations of bands except for Custard as pointed out by the lead singer Andrew ‘Coxy’ Cox. Their new album Tropical Strength was on full display right from the start with the first song ‘Un-Australians’ which was quickly followed by ‘Tell Someone Who Gives A Fuck’. It was clear that the new album was going to be the focus with another new songs like ‘Guitar Village’ and ‘If You Love Me’ played.
The Fauves gigs are notable for the good natured, self-depreciating banter that goes back and forth between the members. After a rousing rendition of ‘Going For My Blue Belt’ bassist Terry ‘Ted’ Cleaver, pick up what was left of his beer, drank it, and asked Andrew ‘Coxy’ Cox exactly how long has he been going for this blue belt? “Was it 24 years?!” To which Andrew ‘Coxy’ Cox replies that “karate moves are dangerous and he is scared of getting hurt” and “what about Ted’s 30 years of his inability to drive” – due to Ted’s lost licence – “there’s magistrates and courts involved there mate”! Phil ‘The Doctor’ Leonard became just “the leopard!” and the Adam ‘Doug’ Newey on drums was watching on, keeping control in a civilised manner, with his white wine.
The Fauves – Princess Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
The Fauves didn’t disappoint their older fans (like myself). “Don’t worry” stated Coxy “we’re going to continue with some more obscure songs!”. The Fauves delivered with live favourites ‘Right Wing Fags’ and ‘Nairobi Nights’ which had the crowd in full singing voice. They closed out the back end of their set with the tracks ‘Give Up Your Day Job’, ‘Medium Pacer’, ‘Self Abuser’ and ‘Dogs Are The Best People’. Then, The Fauves were joined by Custard’s Matthew Strong to perform ‘Everybody’s Getting a 3 Piece Together’. Coxy told the crowd: “we always wanted to be a 5-piece band – dreamed of it – and here we are!” The song and the band’s performance art “with singing into two microphones at once” was a fantastic way to finish their set on a high and left the crowd extremely happy. It was such a tight 11 song set and the band performed brilliantly!
Well, it was another stage strip down and re-arrange, as Custard oversaw the changes personally. The crowd was getting excited for the main act – the guy from Chile was totally out there! Custard are just one of those Aussie bands that makes everybody feel joyous. And, their back catalogue of songs is astonishing and the crowd got to hear those songs roll out with an extraordinary long set and stunning encore.
Custard – Princess Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
Custard came onto the stage and Dave McCormack let everyone know that: “Ipswich fucking rocks!” and that the band have just released a new album Suburban Curtains. Custard was on fire doing great justice to the new material. The set started with ‘Someday’ and ‘Never Loved Melbourne’ which were fantastic as Pascalle Burton joined them on keys to help fill out the sound. They, then, played ‘Hit Song’ from 1999 Loverama album which had the crowd dancing and singing along. They followed with the songs in rapid fire succession ‘Lucky Star’, ‘Pack Yr Suitcases’, ‘Pinball Lez’, ‘No Pay No Delicious’ before returning to new material ‘I Love You FNQ’ and the fabulous song ‘Fifty Plus’, an ode to sunscreen for the heart, which was really popular with the crowd. At this point, Dave McCormack was fully engaged in taking his shaker into the crowd, screwing with the mixing desk, and having a full-on double take about the very enthusiastic fan from Chile.
Then, there was a “nature break”. Custard’s drummer Glenn Thompson swapped places to play the guitar and sing and he delivered three new songs in a row; ‘Piece of Shit’, ‘Black Rinse’ and the outstanding ‘Molecules Colliding’ which was the best song of the night. He was joined by bass player Paul Medew, the drummer from The Fauves Adam ‘Doug’ Newey. He closed out his short stint with Jessica Moore on drums with the infectious ‘Music Is Crap’.
Custard – Princess Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
Custard returned to the stage and the energy output was enormous as they started into the second part of their set with the crowd favourites ‘Girls Like That (Don’t Go for Guys Like Us)’, ‘Funky Again’, ‘Singlette’ and ‘Anatomically Correct’ which had the crowd at boiling point as people bounced and danced around like ‘molecules’ with added cow bells.
Custard, then set into the last stage of the night with an enormous encore, I took off to the back of the venue to see what other fans could see, and the view was terrific. As were the last four songs, in a 23 song setlist with, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’, ‘Apartment’, ‘Ringo (I Feel Like)’ and the funny and very popular ‘Caboolture Speed Lab’ – not much change in that area of QLD then?!
I have to say that Paul Medew put on a masterclass with his bass and never missing a note all night, and he was just so joyous to watch. Custard delivered a brilliant and jubilant gig – it certainly ended the last gig of the year at the Princess Theatre on a high and there was one very ecstatic Brisbane crowd who have kicked off Christmas in the right way – with the creamy and delicious music as served by Custard, with The Fauves and The Stress Of Leisure.
