Images and Review by Jordan Newton:
With the current state of the music scene in Australia suffering and big festivals being cancelled left right and centre, it's great to see that Pandemonium survived the onslaught and continues to touring around the country with such a impressive lineup. After playing a sideshow in Newcastle on Tuesday, it was now Sydney's turn to have a taste.
Opening up the festival was the Fyrebirds. The Coffs Harbour fiery rock duo (Jet and Jack) were lucky to score this gig after Vegas rockers Palaye Royale pulled out of the festival last minute due a family emergency last week. Their resumè has already proved themselves to perform to massive stadiums and festivals around the country, supporting for the likes of Jimmy Barnes, Darryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens (Noiseworks & INXS), Ian Moss, Billy Ocean and Wolfmother. The group geared the crowd up for the day with unreleased tracks along with a few classic rock classics from Divinyls, Joan Jett and Queen. Looking forward to seeing new music in the works confirmed by the band onstage including a release of their first single "Don't Touch Me" coming out next week.
Fyrebirds setlist:
Never Meet Again
Tomorrow
Don't Touch Me
Boys In Town (Divinyls Cover)
Rock You Shock You
Heart of a Spin
Wanna Get High
I Love Rock N Roll (Joan Jett Cover with We Will Rock You Intro)
Hitting you like a kangaroo in the headlights of a Peterbilt highway truck was the Cosmic Psychos. These grunge yob rock pioneers (who later inspired the Seattle Sound of the 90s including Nirvana and Pearl Jam) amplified the mood of the crowd with their buzzed bass, beer gut exposing guitar riffed set including F*ckwit City, Nice Day To Go To The Pub, Dead In A Ditch and Lost Cause. Celebrating over 40 since the bands formation (1982), Ross Knight (bass and lead vocals), John "Mad Macka" McKeering (guitar) and Dean Muller (drums), they have no plans of stopping and the crowd certainly didn't want them to either. The band is wrapping this tour up before embarking on a US tour in May this year. The energy of the crowd turned the show into a metal concert and they loved it.
"Whatta cracka of a day!" - Ross Knight
Great to see Wolfmother return to the stage on their home turf after touring overseas. It's been nearly 2 years since I last saw the band and had a chat to frontman Andrew Stockdale at Frankie's Pizza (Rest In Peace). The ARIA award winners played their internationally acclaimed classics including Woman, Dimensions, Apple Tree, Rock Off and Joker & The Thief with Andrew's rockstar persona taking centre stage. We were treated to a little bit of White Unicorn (which is not on the Pandemonim tour setIist) due a someone dressing up as a inflated white unicorn. I feel this performance was more special as Wolfmother is a great example of Sydney's greatest music exports along side Aussie greats like AC/DC and INXS. Crowds began to show up to see them. Sydney does it best.
Teenage Dirt Bags, Wheatus, were up next. Brendan B Brown leading the 90s band in a enjoyable set with alot of overlooked hidden gems including Lemonade, Valentine, Temporary Song, Hey Mr Brown, a cover of AC/DC's Rock N Roll Damnation and of course the elephant in the room, Teenage Dirty Bag. It would be tough suffering from the "one hit wonder curse" (or blessing) that has plagued them for over 20 years. But hey, if it's gotten them this far and being one of most recognisable songs that defined a generation, who gives a damn. The crowd angelically sung the girl part in the song which made Brendan jokily cut off the song there and then but he sung the girl part anyway cause everyone wants him to sing it. A nice touch was when Brendan wished everyone a happy ANZAC Day. Overall, a surprising and great performance from Wheatus.
When the first line up was announced for this festival, I had no idea who Psychedelic Furs were so it was interesting to see a band I havent heard of before. A benefit of being a photographer and reviewer. The london band seemed happy and sometimes overwhelmed to see the audience cheer for them during their 80s synthesizer filled Bowie inspired alternative rock set including Pretty In Pink, Love My Way and Heaven. A surprise was seeing Richard Fortus from Guns N Roses joining the furs along side original members, brothers Richard (vocals) and Tim Butler (bass). Having listened to a few tracks after the festival, Richards voice has remained the same as he did back in 1977. The furs sedated the tone of the festival to get ready for what was to come next, Blondie.
Finally when the sun went down, it was time for the headliners. As I mentioned earlier in the review that the festival survived the onslaught, none copped it harder than than Pandemonium. The media was relentless in sabotaging this festival with news of venue changes, controversy with the selected date, line up updates (Deep Purple, Placebo, Gang of Four, Dead Kennedys and few others that pulled out of the lineup) and the false rumours spreading that the festival had been cancelled. During the band changeovers, I spoke to the audience. They felt Alice Cooper and Blondie actually cared for this festival and did everything in their power to keep it going for the fans and they're glad they did. The stage screen changed to a message acknowledging respect for all returned and fallen servicemen and women on ANZAC Day.
Blondie, fronted by iconic frontwoman and sex symbol, Debbie Harry (in a white anti-war dress), raptured the stage and she still got it. When I saw them being one of the headliners to this festival, I knew had to try be part of this. The band played their 50 year career in an hour, expanding different genres (punk rock, disco pop and new wave classics) including tracks Heart of Glass, One Way Or Another, Hanging on the Telephone, Rapture and Atomic. A personal highlight was Debbie perfectly singing Rapture with her mix of high and low tones still on point. Debbie Harry and Clem Burke (drums) are the only two originals left in Blondie now. It was great to see Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols (before being kicked out and replaced by Sid Vicious) playing bass on stage in Australia again with Blondie. They proved to the crowd that they had attitude. With most bands of the same era starting or wrapping up their final tours, it's still great to see some defining acts like Blondie are still going.
"I'm happy I get to come to Australia before I die" - Debbie Harry.
Along came a spider......in the form of Alice Cooper. Alice brought his masterery of shock rock, theatrics and showmanship with his just as impressive band featuring Nita Strauss (lead uitar) Glen Sobel (drums) Ryan Roxie (guitar), Chuck Garrix (Bass) and Tommy Henriksen (rhythm guitar and member of the Hollywood Vampires). I have seen him at least twice before and he has never disappointed every single time. A few people in the audience and my fellow photographers had not seen Alice before. I guarteed them they're in for a treat. With a giant Frankenstein puppet, guillotines, footage of Vincent Price, gothic ballerinas and live snakes, what's not to like.
"Hey dude, we are gonna try and get to the front for Alice Cooper. We are gonna do the whole WE'RE NOT WORTHY! part infront of him so be ready to take photos of us" Two blokes dressed from Wayne's World asked me.
Alice Cooper Setlist:
Lock Me Up
Welcome to the Show
No More Mr Nice Guy
Under My Wheels
Billion Dollar Baby
Hey Stoopid
Department of Youth
Snake Bite
Feed My Frankenstein
Poison
Black Widow
The Ballad of Dwight Fry
I Love The Dead
Elected
School's Out (Another Brick In The Wall)
Overall, Pandemonium Rocks was better than I expected. With over 3000 people in attendance full of friends and families gathered for a relaxing chilled afternoon followed by a action packed night supporting our soldiers and live music. What more you would you want for a public holiday?
"We Shall Remember Them, Lest We Forget" - Alice Cooper
Nice one! Pity the full orignal Fesival lineup did not go ahead but sounds like a good day out regardless. The bands all seemed to do their best from reports at all shows. The promoter. well I'm not so sure. And did you know Richard Fortus played with the Furs when they reformed in the early 2000s? Great to see him back in the line up!