30 January 2024 – The Tivoli, Brisbane – words and pictures by Bec Harbour
When the Breeders shows were announced, I was pretty excited. I have seen them many times but this would be the first time reviewing and photographing them. Without fangirling out too much, Kim deal has been front and central to my journey in music, I picked up bass because I loved her work with the Pixies, then the Breeders showed off her music writing chops even more and the short lived The Amps. She was irreverent, and seemed to just be having a great time making music.
Last Splash made a huge splash (see what I did there) in the 90’s with ’Cannonball’, it’s Spike Jonze directed video clip and it’s catchy as hell “ah-wooo-oo, ahwooo-oo” and loopy bassline and nursery rhyme style lyrics. Last year marked the 30th anniversary of the release and as usual we get it a bit later but who cares, the Breeders are playing.
The Tivoli quickly fills up with the faithful while local DJ Norto spins tracks – I wonder how many times many of these punters have seen the Breeders. One person tells me they have seen them every time they have come to Australia – we could not remember how many times that was.
Mod Con, an experimental alt-punk leaning band from Melbourne were first up. After initially being confused about them not being Cable Ties (another Melbourne alt-punk band) I settled in to listen to a really solid set from the trio. Singer/guitarist Erica Dunn (also known for Tropical Fuck Storm) let the crowd know how much they loved being on tour with the Breeders. I wish I could tell you what they played, it was an awesome set and some great music to warm the crowd up.
After enough leads and cables were set up for the various effects (it looked like what I have hidden behind my TV cabinet and just as messy) the Breeders came on. They came out with waves and smiles Kim asked the crowd how they were (as an aside they reminded me of my aunts who all go travelling with each other – complete with paraphernalia that ladies of a certain age carry, Kelley had an orange handbag that she pulled her glasses out of).
They opened with ‘Saints’ and the crowd erupted and sang along. The y moved on through ‘Doe’, ‘Wait in the Car’ and ‘Hag’ then Kim asked the crowd if they were still going OK and spoke about the heat and how the Brisbane crowd were probably used to it.
Two more songs from Last Splash were next; ‘Invisible Man’ and ‘I Just Want to Get Along’. The love for this album was evident with the crowd belting out the lyrics along side Kim. I need to pause here to speak about ‘Safari’ – this was the first Breeders song I ever heard, I have heard it live several times and each time it pulls me back to the time I first heard it – it grabs you around the chest and squeezes – it is a really amazing song.
We run through a few more songs that were not from Last Splash (if anyone was expecting them to run through the album from beginning to end, that’s not what happens at a Breeders show), ‘Iris’ and ‘Opened’ then back to Last Splash with ‘No Aloha’ which had the crowd roaring the lyrics.
With the Deal twins front and central, Kim stopped to give her sister some stick about how she used to sing – Kelley gave her some words back (couldn’t hear as she was away from the mic) and the show went on.
You would think at this point we would be on the downhill run, but we were only halfway through. ‘Fortunately Gone’, ‘When I was a Painter’, ‘Lime House’ and ‘New Year’ were next.
Kim pulled a sports whistle from her pocket and we all knew what was coming – ‘Cannonball’ the crowd “ah-wooo-oo, ahwooo-oo, ah-wooo-oo, ahwooo-oo” along with the opening to the song and hell they play this song live great! The sing-along continued with ‘Do You Love Me Now?’.
Jim MacPherson, who has been hidden the whole set behind his drums and several Marshall stacks comes out and thanks the people that have made the tour work behind the scenes.
Kim said that she and Josephine would be swapping guitar and bass and that Josephine would be having a sing for ‘Meta-Goth’. At the end of this song, Kim looked at the crowd and grinned and plucked the bassline for ‘Gigantic’ – the reaction from the crowd was electric and we got to see Kim play one of her best compositions. And they trundle off the stage.
The crowd did not scream one more song thankfully, perhaps they knew there would be an encore (considering one of their biggest songs had not been played). After a very short interlude, they came out smiling and waving again and played ‘Walking wth a Serial Killer’ and their alt-country song ‘Drivin’ On 9’ then of course, ‘Divine Hammer’ (sing along time again).
The Breeders seemed to be having the time of their lives, they were interactive and responsive to the crowd and played a great paced set. I have my Breeders tour 2024 shirt, complete with wombats and left very happy.
