The ‘Support Act’ as Lloyd chose to refer to himself as, opened the last of his Australian tour venues at Freo Social Club, with an impeccable acoustic opening 55 minutes. Then closely followed by a second set of similar length by the ‘Headline’ act, not unsurprisingly Lloyd again, there was clearly no discernible difference in quality between the two !!! Joking aside this was something of a tour de force of almost two hours of acoustic bliss.
Having explained that he had been extremely unwell for at his last two gigs and had only just about recovered his performance was exceptional. Never an act to toy with the upper reaches of the charts in their formative years it’s difficult to understand why in hindsight and if recent interviews are anything to go by I guess this was a really major issue at the time albeit there were still 15 top 100 hits from 1984 to 1995 with ‘Lost Weekend ‘ the highest peaking at 17. Eight tracks featured from this period in the opening set and all flowed seamlessly together along with the inclusion of ‘On Pain’ from the latest album and also one of Lloyds favourite songs taken from Bowie’s 1975 ‘Young Americans’, namely ‘Can You Hear Me’.
Some self-depreciation throughout was also a feature of the show which only added to his rapport with the audience and this continued into the second set. Claiming that his voice still wasn’t up to the second chorus in this years ‘The Idiot’ the audience were clearly coerced but nevertheless enthusiastically happy to help out with singing the line ‘stop being a drug addict’. The sublime ‘Brand New Friend’ preceded 1986’s ‘Cut Me Down’ which was wistfully described by Lloyd as their first flop – albeit a number 38 hit!!! Had the night finally ended with 2019’s ‘Violins’, one of my all-time recent favourites, I would have been perfectly happy but when the encore gives you ‘Lost Weekend’ and ‘Forest Fire’ what more could you ask for? I think the answer to that is to come back for more next time Lloyd/s around.
- Set List – Support Act.
Don’t Look Back, Mr. Malcontent, Trigger Happy, On Pain , Why in the World, Can You Hear Me (Bowie), Rattlesnakes,
Like Lovers Do, Pay For It, My Other Life, 2CV, Undressed, Tried to Rock, The Afterlife.
- Set List – The Main Man.
If I were a Song, Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken, Brand New Friend, Cut Me Down, The Idiot , Why I Love Country Music, Butterfly, Diminished Ex, Jennifer She said, Woman in a Bar, My Alibi, Myrtle and Rose, It’s Late, Perfect Skin, Violins.
- Encore.
Lost Weekend, Forest Fire.
Words by Paul Diggins Photos by Shotweiler Photography
