After many Covid induced delays the Angels finally brought their Symphony to Perth tonight to a packed audience at the Concert Hall. Many bands of course have done the ‘Symphony’ experiments before with a varying degree of success. For some it has really brought out aspects of the music and brought a new level of appreciation. For others who I won’t mention, it has either achieved mixed results or just simply jumped onto the bandwagon and acted as a marketing tool. As someone who has seen and heard a dozen Symphonies I can honestly say that this was the very best. This is the one that reached into the very essence of the music, took care in selecting just the right songs and really ended up with something much more than a simple reimagining.
The Angels are 47 years old this year and pushing that magical anniversary, and according to John have a lot more planned for the big ‘5-0’ so it’s great that tonight the packed house at the Perth Concert Hall, who have waited a couple of Covid delayed years for this show, finally get to see this magic play out after Adelaide, Sydney & Melbourne and Brisbane.
It’s also wonderful to see the young guns take their place with John and Rick with Sam Brewster (Bass Guitar) and Nick Norton (drums) joining the brothers along with the ever youthful Dave Gleeson! It’s an interesting crowd to with far more seated in thei rather fine building than would usually attend teh Rock and Roll shows at venues like The Charles and The Ravo. Best of all though tonight is to see the generations in attendance – kids with their kids attending with parents and grandparents.
So here we are Australia’s greatest Rock band and seminal Pub Rockers with that grain of Punk in their DNA with…. and orchestra!
And it all starts with a piece of music conceived in the past. ‘Overture’ was written by the Brewster brother’s grandfather Hooper – a Symphony he wrote called ‘Australia Felix’ and as John said in our recent interview “to walk on stage to that is quite a goosebump moment”. Here adapted for the Symphony it draws everything together beautifully, like a gentle tug at the strings of time, connecting families and generations to this present moment. Conceptually it is both touching and emotional; musically it’s just wonderful and leads perfectly into the first set opener ‘After the Rain.’
If you had any doubt that this would work then ‘After the Rain’ should answer that concern. It grabs you from teh off and the balance is perfect between orchestra and band and in this wonderful venue the textures are just sublime.
With so many bands who play around with this format there always seems to be a gap between the vision and the reality. In theory you can orchestrate pretty much anything and have it sound OK, but most orchestral arrangement for Rock bands feel like mere shadow, tweaks and enhancements. When you listen to Angels classics like ‘Straight Jacket’, ‘No Exit’, ‘Face The Day’ and “Take A Long Line’ you feel strangely that they were made this way. The moody ‘Face the Day’ especially sems to have been made for the light countenance of strings and the bold stab of brass, it throws the song into a completely new light. ‘Take a long line’ benefits in other ways from the treatment, like the wonderful introduction, and sees both orchestra and band rocking out to take us into the break.
The second set which features a selection of Angels hits but also some carefully curated ‘deeper cuts’ begins with the John Brewster composition ‘Would You Do it Again’. It’s an interesting choice in many ways not least the arrivals on stage of the Choir to complement band and Orchestra. It’s an interesting choice as elsewhere ‘Love Takes Care’ has opened the second set, though tonight that song is left out.
It works perfectly – ‘Would You Do it Again’ has that emotional charge that comes as a complete surprise to open the set and sees more than a few moist eyes when it is dedicated with a raised glass to Doc and Chris Bailey. There’s a wonderful vocal from John and for me at least it’s one of the highlights of the night.
Dave rejoins the band for a great rendition of ‘Be With You’ and the addition of the choir just highlights what a great song it is before the spoken word intro to ‘Dawn Is Breaking’ adds further texture. We’re treated then to the wonderful ‘No Secrets’ and ‘Shadow Boxer’ before a breathtaking rendition of ‘My Light Will Shine’.
We close the night with the Brewster Brothers’ ‘Blue Blood’ which songs incredible with the orchestra behind it but it is merely the entre for tonight’s closer ‘Marseilles’ (John talks about writing that song in our latest interview) which is sublime. As I set to open I’ve seen many bands try this format with variable results. This is the best I have ever seen and as John tells me later this is his favourite of the ‘Symphony of Angels’ shows so far. You can’t take the pub out of a rock band but you can bring the pub to the concert hall and create magic… at least I think that’s how that old saying goes?
Now enjoy some shots from the night…
Set 1:
Set 2:
Encore: