31 May 2024 – Logan Entertainment Centre, Logan – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
Eskimo Joe are on a monster 18 date nationwide acoustic theater tour, taking some of their most iconic tracks, and some deep cuts, and giving them a new coat of paint for audiences far and wide. We were lucky enough to be on site to catch this incredible showcase, and also take in some incredible music from one of the best acts possible to open for such an occasion, Dan Sultan.
Walking out to a respectful silence, the crowd sat in anticipation waiting for one of Australia’s best singer songwriters, Dan Sultan, to start singing his incredible stories. We all had a laugh at the start because of the silence, but Dan immediately shut everyone up with songs like ‘Boats’, and ‘Walk Through My Dream’ to serenade the room. Something I wasn’t aware of, was the closeness between Dan and Eskimo Joe guitarist, Joel Quartermain. It’s cool to know that the people that tour together, can also share some incredible bonds. Dan’s vocals were a highlight of the night. I swear that man could perform without a microphone, and it would still hit the back of the room. Some other songs we were treated to, included ‘Kimberly Calling’, and ‘Old Fitzroy’. Dan proved to be an amazing tone setter for a great night of music.
After a small changeover, the lights dimmed, as Kav Temperley and his incredible hair walked out on stage to perform a solo rendition of ‘Foreign Land’. Flanked at the end of the song by Joel and Stu, they finished out, before explaining setting out the agenda for the evening. Every song has a story, and every songs story would be told tonight. The set was a solid 17 songs, so it was going to be a great night, getting a peek behind the curtain of a band 25+ years deep into their career, while celebrating their biggest hits.
As ‘Sarah’ started up, and the crowd clapped along, Kav gave us the cheeky “shush” at the start of the song, as they played along. Joel was working overtime, doing double duty on a drum kit and guitar at the same time, and Stu was awesome up the back, providing the comedic relief for the night. I’m not going to touch on all the stories, but I will mention two that I found hilarious. One of them involved the song Setting Sun, and Kav not being able to remember what movie the song was part of the soundtrack for. The crowd shouted out it was Miley Cyrus/Liam Hemsworth film The Last Song, and Kav mistook Liam for Chris, in a moment that had the crowd in stitches. Kav then proclaimed the film his favourite of all time, before launching into ‘Setting Sun’.
The other story was about the song New York. This is a story worth hearing in person, but it involves Joel, Kav, and Stu being cocky, brash kids, in an industry they didn’t understand, learning lessons the hard way. This has to be one of my favorite stories of the entire show. So please go see the shows alone for this story. In terms of catalog, there were some deep cuts in the set, like ‘Childhood Behaviour’, ‘Gift Giving’, and ‘Breaking Up’, with some of my personal favourites, like ‘Song is A City’, ‘The First Time’, and ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’. All of these songs, interpreted into acoustic songs, sounded simply incredible.
The show ended great as well, with songs like ‘Liar’ and ‘Love is a Drug’ drawing the crowd to be louder, before we couldn’t help ourselves to sing loud and proud for ‘To The Sea’. Kav teased an encore if we were loud enough, and we were, before the band came back out for a full band rendition of ‘Foreign Land’, again. Acoustic shows like this sometimes worry me, because I worry the songs won’t translate well. Eskimo Joe picked the perfect songs for this medium, and delivered an absolutely incredible night of music for everyone in attendance.
