Gig Watch: The White Album Concert

Featuring: Chris Cheney (The Living End), Tim Rogers (You Am I), Josh Pyke, Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon)

By Lisa Dib

The White Album Concert

I don't think I am channeling my usual cynical self when I admit to heading to Melbourne's Hamer Hall... riddled with a combination of scepticism and hope.

Beatles fans usually (more often than any other band) hold the Liverpool quartet in such high regard that any tampering of such masterworks as "The White Album" is not only frowned upon, but punishable by stoning.

Luckily I am no such Beatles purist, so my trepidation was far outweighed by my excitement.

Chris Cheney (The Living End) began proceedings, keeping rock and roll sentiments alive with Back in the USSR.

So far, so good.

Phil Jamieson (Grinspoon) was the real surprise for the night; having severely underestimated his abilities as a performer, I ate my cynical words with a side of humble pie.

Knocking out Dead Prudence beautifully (and, later, an amazing rendition of the honky-tonk Honey Pie, complete with 20s-era moves).

This paved the way for my second favourite Beatles song (after Glass Onion, of course): Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da in which Chris and Phil were joined by Josh Pyke and You Am I’s Tim Rogers, dapper as a dandy.

In case you are wondering, number one song by The Beatles is Hey Jude.

Tim Rogers performed solo for the next couple of tracks; I was glad he had upped the stakes since the last time I had seen him on stage and his eccentric physical interpretations of Piggies certainly gave us the visual aspect we had been waiting for.

Josh Pyke was at his usual harmonic, acoustic best, playing the George Harrison part, reworking tracks like Julia, Blackbird and Rocky Raccoon.

Act Two (or, Side Two for those playing at home) was much of the same: Chris Cheney powered through Birthday and the massive Helter Skelter; Tim Rogers wiggled and jiggled to Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey; Phil Jamieson’s renditions of Sexy Sadie and the aforementioned Honey Pie could perhaps rival the originals and Josh Pyke poured Long, Long, Long and Cry, Baby, Cry over an adoring, spellbound crowd.

You know, I’m not much into You Am I, and I haven’t been into Grinspoon since their Triple J days, and though I do adore Josh Pyke I can understand where some might find him snoozeworthy - while The Living End have been slowly losing favour with me since they threw in the rockabilly towel and starting churning out FM Rock with a capital ‘dull’...

But anyone bopping in their seat at Hamer Hall that night couldn’t deny the gargantuan charge the boys had ahead of them, and how well they responded to the task.

To cover music that many, many people hold so dear could surely have been a cultural death sentence but in the hands of, not only four very capable frontmen, a slew of brilliant musicians, it came out all White (oh my lord, worst pun ever) and the finale (Goodnight, of course) that brought them all centre stage together was lovely.

Quite lovely.

My only grumble must be the forced encore; though it was a joy for all to finally stand up and dance about to the much-loved songs of the era, they performed songs they had already showcased earlier, and it felt a little “dead horse, meet flogging stick”.

All in all, though, a nice that far surpassed my expectations.

Brought To You By The Dwarf