Club Nova in Newcastle was the first stop for the New Suburban Fables tour - and unfortunately it appeared the venue wasn't too prepared for it. The line up to get in was huge, resulting in many people missing out on most, if not all, of the Something For Kate set.

Paul Dempsey (guitarist / vocalist) began with a simple "Good evening everybody, we're Something For Kate". The band then launched into Twenty Years, followed by Hallways & Jerry Stand Up.

Usually a three piece, on this night usual members Paul Dempsey, Stephanie Ashworth & Clint Hyndaman were joined by two others - Pip Branson & Simon Burke. The extra musicians added an extra dimension to the live songs, especially to the song Like Bank Robbers, where Pip traded his guitar for a violin. A nice treat indeed!

Paul introduced Electricity as "a song about wanting to travel faster than light, which is ahh, I just reckon it would be really handy". Later during the set he let loose with his comedy routine, "For those of you who turned up late, we're Something For Dave..." - he then introduced everyone up on stage as Dave. The band then played Say Something followed by the last song for the evening, Monsters.

SFK Setlist: Twenty Years, Hallways, Jerry Stand Up, Whatever You Want, You Only Hide, Like Bank Robbers, Electricity, Three Dimensions, Say Something, Monsters.

Bernard Fanning

At about 9.50pm, the lights dimmed and an alarm sounded. A female voice then announced: "Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen. Welcome to the New Suburban Fables. For your safety during the course of the show the following acts are not permitted; frowning, standing still, leaving early, or any visible sign of a lack of enthusiasm. We do however encourage vigorous booty shaking, hysterical screaming, jumping vertically as high as possible & shameless joy. So please get off your arse and prepare to rock. Ladies & Gentlemen, POWDERFINGER. "

The boys were welcomed by an enthused Novocastrian crowd who were, as instructed, "ready to rock" and the band opened the night with The Day You Come, followed by My Happiness. It had been quite some time since Powderfinger had played live in Australia - most of the recent live focus has been on the overseas market. The band were obviously happy to be back in familiar territories. Bernard reiterated this to the crowd saying "This is the first time we've played in Australia for a while so we're very excited. It is also the first time we've played in Newcastle for a while, so it's good to be back here." He then proceeded to play the intro for Up & Down & Back Again on an acoustic guitar.

John Collins

During Powderfinger's Odyssey No 5 tour, the band didn't draw on material from earlier album releases - mainly sticking to tunes off the multi platinum albums Internationalist & Odyssey No 5. On this particular evening, after only three songs into the set, Bernard enticed fans stating "In 1996 we released an album called Double Allergic". The crowd responded accordingly with a huge roar. The band then played Living Type.

After Living Type some curtains were pulled open to reveal two huge screens... the projected image being a huge letter slowly being revealed. The introduction to a familiar song was building, and the letter being revealed was an A - the band then played DAF - and as soon as the opening riff was recognisable, the screens revealed the letters DAF. I thought this was a nice touch - giving rise to a momentum that is warranted for such a hit. The crowd loved it.

Like A Dog was also a crowd favourite. The effect of the visuals on screen behind them throughout the song - a boxer shadow boxing - was awesome. Couldn't really tell if it was Anthony "The Man" Mundine - but it was impressive none the less. I've no doubt many a sportsperson who was there found it highly motivational - I know because I was with one who commented that "Like a Dog" had just become his fav song. Don't Wanna Be Left Out was followed by a short one minute song that I've never heard before - most likely a cover song.

Darren Midleton

Bernard then slowed the pace of the evening right down, saying, "Everyone can just relax for a couple minutes", he then sang and played a solo version of Whatever Makes You Happy. This was followed be a stunning version of These Days, once again Bernard taking center spotlight but this time whilst sitting at a keyboard playing the much stripped back, but very powerful version of the song from the Two Hands movie.

The spotlight then focused on Ian Haug while he strummed out the opening notes of MI2 track My Kind Of Scene, and this brought a huge cheer from the Novocastrian crowd.

Bernard was then handed an acoustic guitar and the band played The Metre, followed by a rockin' version of Boing Boing with the extended solo section. Someone in the crowd was pleading for the band to play Freedom, Darren then replied" Freedom, was that a request? Well, OK, we'll think about that." They then played Pick You Up followed by the David Bowie cover Ziggy Stardust.

Ian Haug

Bernard then took to the microphone again, & just to make sure us Novocastrians were put in our place a little in light of our recent ARL victory, he stated "Well like I was saying before, it's nice to be back in Newcastle here, we're from Brisbane, and ah we know what it's like to be from a premiership winning town you see. It's just something that we have in common. Anyway, this is another song off our latest record Odyssey Number Five, we're gonna take off after this one so thanks very much to DJ Fluent JB and Something For Kate, and thanks for having us". Thrilloilogy was the last song played before the band left the stage.

The crowd wasn't prepared to leave without an encore, and a couple minutes after the band left the stage, they were back in place again. Bernard then proceeded to tell a little white lie - "Quite a long time ago, in 1994 actually it was, we released our first album. Ah, and this song wasn't actually on it, this is a B-side from our first single, so ah this is for the people who used to come and see us at The Castle over the road". They then played Wobbly Knee, a song off the Pick You Up single (which definitely is not off their first single!). During the first half of the song, the screens showed a stagnate Bernard Fanning standing at the microphone doing what he does best. When the vocal part of the song was finished, Bernard picked up the mini camera which looked to be about the size of a small microphone, and walked around to his fellow band mates giving the crowd a bird's-eye view of band members. They all seemed to be a little camera shy, laughing as Bernard approached them.

Jon Coghill

Waiting For The Sun followed Wobbly Knee, then Bernard addressed the crowd for the last time of the night, "We actually have come to the end of our evening. So look, this is awesome, this tour went crazy from the first day. Thanks so much for making this all possible for us. We're going to finish this tour then have a little break and write a new record and then we'll come back again next year some time. So we'll see you then". They closed the show with Passenger. Overall, a highly enjoyable concert from one of Australia's biggest acts.


POWDERFINGER Setlist: The Day You Come, My Happiness, Up & Down & Back Again, Living Type, DAF, Like A Dog, Don't Wanna Be Left Out, ???, Whatever Makes You Happy, These Days, My Kind Of Scene, The Metre, Boing Boing, Pick You Up, Ziggy Stardust, Thrilloilogy.
Encore: Wobbly Knee, Waiting For The Sun, Passenger.

Review by Paul Stipack
All photo's © Brendan Worth