Sterling Hotel, February 14, 2003Rick started off the evening, with a very well received solo set. Since I've never seen him solo, it was a treat. I was very impressed with his use of recording and loops, as well as the pure emotion in his singing. He played the following set list:
Secrets
Is It Only You
Intuition
Drink to Dreams
Pet Your Kitty
Today, Tomorrow, ForeverHe then began playing the blue didg, and recording and playing loops, to create a jam to bring the band out onto stage.
Hamish was the first on stage, and after some vocalizations, he picked up his didg and began playing. Dez soon followed, and T and Angus joined the stage. T began to pound out the familiar drumbeats of Unknown, and Angus picked up Hamish's pipes. The crowd began to scream now, as the guys welcomed us to the show.
The written set list was as follows:
Unknown
Bitch
Fragile
River
Believe - Carry
Sweet Time
Funny
Name
All Good
Crazy
Shadow
18
(Romp)
Instead of Carry, they did Hang On, and added Grace and Lean on Me on the end.Angus was wearing a black tank, with the Thai representation of Buddha glittering on the front, and dark jeans with boots. Hamish was dressed in the great green and black tank that we had seen at Sterling before, with the black leather pants and red shoes. Rick was wearing a dark blue long sleeved ribbed shirt, with tan corduroys. Dez had on a knit cap, with grey and blue stripes, a blue shirt and jeans. T was wearing a short-sleeved brown button down shirt, with jeans.
During the middle of Unknown, Hamish and Rick went back and forth on the didges, building the crowd up, and then stopping for a few beats. Angus joined back in with the pipes, accompanied by Rick's skillful guitar work The song seemed a bit slower than in times past, but it was still full of energy.
Hamish wished us all a Happy Valentine's day, and Dez played around a bit on the keyboards, as they set to begin Bitch. The familiar lone guitar melody emerged from stage and built into a few new chords to begin the song. After the first "inside of me" chorus, Dez pulled out the sample that has been heard on the Hat Trick CD, "the new single from Brother, here on Pink FM". The last verse of the song had very heavy, tribal drumbeats behind it, provided by T at the drum set, and brought the song to a quick close.
Hamish was saying something about the five of them being away for Valentine's Day, and added "yes, we are now five, we turned around, and suddenly, there we were." Rick started to play the intro to Fragile, and the crowd started to clap along. The drum was very heavy throughout the song, giving it a menacing feel during the chorus. The melody of the verse has changed slightly and the song is slightly slower now. There is now a long section in the middle, with Angus singing "I'm so fragile, fragile when you're here", then Hamish joined him. This lead into the ending verse of the song, with Hamish and Angus repeating, "I don't mind, I don't mind" over and over.
Angus noted that he was having problems with his in-ear mics, so he couldn't really hear but he could see all our faces, and that made up for it. Hamish remarked on the storm that was predicted, since it hadn't even begun snowing. Angus then said, "Quite cold here this time of year, isn't it…. Oh, my God!" T started to tap out the beats, and they began River. It is slower now still, with Angus singing along with Rick's long guitar line. Hamish joined in with a quiet didg accompaniment. Once the second verse of "if we're a river, let it flow" began, you could hear pieces of Flow coming out in the music. The song built at that point, and Dez's samples really added to the overall effect of the song. After Hamish played the bagpipes, they segued nicely into Flow. The crowd sang along with the "Ay-oh, let it flow" very loudly, and the song moved back into the final chorus of River, with the samples underneath.
Hamish then called out that Angus required a stool, so we knew that Believe was next. A fan from the audience handed Hamish a Cold Chisel CD, which he was very excited by. He told Angus to sing some, and he sang, "the Rising Sun just stole my girl away", which brought cheers from the audience. Hamish said they would do a Cold Chisel cover the next time they came back. Angus looked around for a stool again, and said he never played the song standing up before, but he'd give it a try, which brought out a good natured rib from Hamish. A stool magically appeared, and Angus said the first time he'd done this song live, it was right here.
Angus then began Believe, which was fabulous, as expected. There isn't much to say about this song, because it is so bare and played with such emotion. The crowd was mesmerized and quietly singing along. Afterward, Angus said, "Thank you, dare I say, most of you guys know it better than I do??" Hamish rejoined the stage with Rick saying that he had an idea. He then said, "So, we've never played here this time of year before", to which Angus replied, "Well, now we know why, bloody hell. We like the cold and all, but see, this is ridiculous, it's like the Arctic or something." They said where they grew up, they had frosts and stuff, and "that was enough... better not go out, there's a bit of a frost." Rick then asked if he had ever told his winter stories from Chicago. He told how he would go to school with wet hair, and by the time he got there, he could crack it, which us Pennsylvanians know well.
Hamish repeated that he had an idea, and brought Kandi up on stage to show off her T-shirt, which she had created with the words, "Hang on to all the little things you love". Hamish said, "It wasn't on the set list, but I think the three of us should do it." Angus then said "you know how it's quite cold and stuff, somebody asked me earlier if we were going to wear the kilts this weekend..." and he cracked up. The crowd screamed and he said, "Nice one. Maybe with long johns..."
Hamish finished turning his guitar, and started to play the beginning to Hang on. The guys started singing "na, na, na, na, na, na, nah" along with the beginning to hang on, urging the crowd to sing along, with the "country version" as Rick called it. Someone counted off, and they began the verse, and didn't sing. The crowd cracked up, as they admitted they didn't know the words. Hamish asked us to sing the first verse to help them out. The guys then joined in for a spirited version of Hang on. Slight changes to the melodic line overall, but the three of them sang well. It was interesting to hear this song with no drums, and just the three of them on guitars. Despite the funny, yet rocky start, it was a great song, and Hamish added at the end "Hang on gang, and don't let go."
Dez and T rejoined the stage, and Angus then announced, that they "were going to do this song, in our own sweet time." Hamish had his didg for this song, and handed his guitar over to Angus. Pounding drum beats and a wavering guitar line from Rick started off the first time PA had heard Sweet Time. Very enjoyable song, great and catchy melody lines. It was received well by the PA crowd. This lead right into Rick's high, jumpy guitar line to start Funny. Funny is a slower and more melodramatic song. Rick has his guitar set to sound more like a cello, and Hamish has a driving repetitive bagpipe part in the middle of the song. Angus still had Hamish's guitar, and Rick's beginning guitar line is repeated towards the end of the song, as Hamish and Angus created great melodic lines with the verse and chorus of the song. Both new songs are like the Brother we all know, but clearly show their evolution.
Name was next. Samples from Dez, and an insistent drum beat began the song. Angus vocalized at the beginning, and launched into the first verse. He was just accompanied by these sounds, until the first "in your name" chorus. Rick's guitar once again sounded like a cello, which really adds a lot to the song. The "ecstasy" portion of the verse has been replaced with some samples by Dez, which in my opinion, do not add anything to the song. Rather, they jerk the listener away from the atmosphere created with the subtle melodic lines and harmonies that Angus and Hamish sing during the chorus. After the samples, they retook the melodic line as we have heard it before. The second instance of the "ecstasy" chorus is replaced with more dramatic guitar lines by Rick, and some vocals from Angus, which are less jarring than the previous chorus. The end is capped off with some driving drumbeats and guitar chords.
The guys then went immediately in to Good. Rick once again plays the guitar with string sounds, which add a lot to the beginning of this song. Good seems slower, but hasn't lost the overall feel. They have added some cool guitar lines and didg in the middle before the bagpipes come in. At the end, Hamish and Angus went back on forth on the "It's all good, it's alright, it's ok" lines for a while, which the crowd cheered along for.
Rick played some wailing guitar lines, Hamish thanked us all for coming, then the familiar drum groove for Crazy started up. Bubbles started in earnest, and the fans screamed. There are some changes to the melodies, leaving some parts out, putting in new lines, but overall, Crazy rocked and had the crowd bouncing along. Hamish pulled out his bagpipes and had the crowd grooving along as the song came to a close.
Hamish addressed the crowd at this point, thanked us all for coming and some panties were thrown on stage by some fans. Angus said that he "in particular, looking for the fluffy type. You may have noticed my bagpipes have kinda turned in to a bit of a muppet. That's the thing I've got going on at the moment." Hamish said "We'd now like to play for you three tunes we definitely don't know" which cracked the crowd up.
The band jammed around for a while, and Hamish began vocalizing, with the crowd echoing him. He then started playing his bagpipes, in a tune that is very familiar, yet I cannot name. Hamish began singing again, with Rick and Angus joining him on the vocalizations. The bagpipes came back in, and brought the song to an exciting close.
Hamish announced the next one as one we knew, and they didn't. Angus then chimed in with, "So, we used to know this song, we think we know the words, we're pretty sure we don't know the music, but that's ok" which cracked us all up. They then began the melody line to Shadowman, but it has been given a new back and forth bass line, which gives the song more power and makes it seem more ominous. Rick had some wailing guitar lines in the middle of the song, and it ended with Hamish and Angus singing "na, na, na's" back and forth in harmony to each other. This song has evolved into a real driving force. After some thanks, the band left the stage.
They rejoined the stage about 40 minutes later, with Hamish coming out and sitting with the didg on one of the speakers. The band joined and jammed for a few minutes, Angus on bass really leading the musical line. Rick started to play some of the melody from Romp. After a bit, Angus handed off his bass to Rick, playing all the while, with no break in the music. He then picked up the pipes, and played a little. Hamish was still playing the didg at this point, but had climbed off the speaker onto the stage. Angus began Romp which brought cheers from the crowd. He engaged the crowd in some echoing "ay-oh's" and then Hamish picked up his pipes to join in for the last bit of the song. Rick was doing an excellent job supporting the song on bass, and T and Dez were right along for the ride. Hamish introduced Dez, T and Rick, then he and Angus alternated back and forth on random vocalizations. After some didg playing, the guys picked up the bagpipes once again and finished the song with a bang.
Somewhere along the line, Angus' pipes had come apart, and he and Rick had to put them back together on stage. Once that was done, they began piping together to Amazing Grace with Rick on bass. After a quick, and weirdly harmonized version of Grace, the guys all left the stage. We didn't want to let them go, it seemed rather early to everyone, so screamed and carried on enough to get them back out there. Hamish said something along the lines that we were all supposed to go home now, but they started to sing Lean on Me. T kept the beat with some tambourine-like bells, and all the guys huddled together around a few microphones. After the song, Hamish jumped down into the crowd, and Rick and Angus crowd surfed off the stage. Rick ended up somewhere in the back of the crowd, and Angus, after a somersault, ended back up on stage with Dez and T.
So, thus ends another Sterling show. It was nothing like the two shows we had seen before at the Sterling, and probably will be nothing like the next, hopefully, one that we will see. We meandered around the bar for a bit, making plans for the next day, and kiddingly talking about this terrible snow we were supposed to be having. If only we knew then.......
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