The mid 90s were a busy time musically. Over the decade I bought hundreds of CDs and attended dozens of concerts and festivals.

So in early 1998 when trip-hop heavyweights Portishead toured Australia for the first time there were a small group of us keen to check them out. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons it just never happened, no matter – we thought – we’ll catch them next time.

And we did. We just didn’t think that there would be a wait of over a decade in between.

The Belvoir Amphitheater in North-East Perth it is an excellent outdoor venue with an exceptionally convenient seating arrangement that provides a reasonable view for most – except those stuck behind a tree! – and superior acoustics to most clubs. When it doesn’t rain it is one of the better locations in Perth. The problem is that for most Perth-ans it is a long trek to get there, with an even longer transit period home due to the inevitable post-show traffic jam at the venue.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) the memory is of the show and not the travel issues, which is why every year or two I find myself once again rocking up to another gig.

Well played Belvoir. You won this round…

As myself and TOG lined up for an introductory beverage support band Mercury Rev were already mid-set, and we mistakenly thought we heard them say that we’re wrapping up soon. At that stage the bracing night air was proving a bit much for my t-shirt, so I thought I might solve my momentary discomfort by purchasing a jumper at the band merchandise stall.

Problem solver right? Well I never thought that I could put a price on potential hypothermia before, but apparently it is $80, which is what they were demanding for a threadbare shitty hoody on the night.

Fortunately aside from the icy breeze that wafted through every quarter of an hour or so I was quite comfortable anyway, and with Mercury Rev started what we assumed must be their last song, I discarded the notion of buying a dodgy jumper and with perfect timing (we thought) moved down to find seating…

Mercury Rev – Outstaying the Welcome

Forty plus minutes later and eight or so mind-numbingly similar and depressingly fey songs later and we were still watching a support group that might have been playing to 7 committed fans for all we knew, at least that’s what me, TOG and the chatty girl in the Jagermeister jacket kept openly pondering. It got to the stage when it would have been a better career move for Mercury Rev to cut their set short, at least then we might have said ‘well that was bad, but it was over quickly’. Instead we started to give songs titles
like ‘Yep we’re still playing’, ‘A song too far’ and ‘You make us stop’.

Thankfully after altogether too long they raised their arms in misguided triumph and left the stage to the applause of all the jumper-less people trying to keep the blood flowing. Things momentarily became so animated in the crowd that a sewing circle threatened to break out.

This lead to a brief sound check with the inevitable comments as to how the roadies and their noodlings and ‘one-twos’ sounded better than Mercury Rev. Put another way, if they were giving Mercury Rev jumpers away after the set I would have rather shivered.

But enough about them, finally the instantly recognizable ‘P’ logo came up on the big screen, and aside from TOG worried aloud that it might be short for ‘P’lease remain standing for the return of Mercury Rev’ the mood of the surprisingly large crowd improved dramatically at the sight of these Trip Hop pioneers.

Now for those new to Portishead, here is the shortest of short review of their discography:

Dummy (1994). Iconic. Essential.

Portishead (1997). Excellent. Worthwhile.

Roseland NYC Live (1998). Brilliant. Surprisingly necessary.

Third (2008). Um here’s where it gets tougher. Mediocre? Pointless? Repetitive? Droning? (Look I bought it the first week of release like everyone else but after trying to brainwash myself for months I eventually refused to fool myself by pretending it was anything less than regrettable.)

Portishead – Sad songs over big bass

Hey down in front!

So after 13 years what do Portishead decide to kick things off with? Not one. Not two. But THREE songs from Third! Not only that, 5 of the first 8 songs were from it, (after which I stopped keeping track). Not that these songs are all awful mind you, a few hold up OK, it’s just when Glory Box and Mysterons are greeted with rapturous applause and the new stuff gets the ‘what’s next’ treatment, you think they’d stick to the classics a little more.

In essence the group on the night consisted of a guitarist, bassist, keyboard and sample guy and a couple of drummers. They were exceptionally tight and well drilled – probably a reflection of a comparatively small collection of songs in their CV and a refusal to play covers. And of course out front stood smoky voiced chanteuse Beth Gibbons. Or should I say out back? Gibbons is renowned for her reluctance of the spotlight, so much so that
once the lights came up she remained at stage rear facing the large screen and literally reversed to the front of the stage just in time to start singing!

Of course once she opened up any concerns about the lack of spectacle vanished immediately, as Gibbons possesses one of the more unique voices in music. Theatrics and dance routines don’t exist here, just rock solid bass heavy songs that all seem to be about how sad she is. Then of course as soon as the instrumental parts started again she would shrink to the back of the stage once more, with her gaze fixed away from the crowd with the same intensity and focus that my four year old grants to a new episode of Handy Manny.

With two great albums under their belt it was unavoidable that a 90 minute set would contain several brilliant tunes regardless of how much they focused on Third, and that was indeed the case. In fact while they only chose to play a couple of songs from the self titled Portishead I could really only count Numb and Mourning Air as two notable omissions.

But the fact remains that while the old-good stuff was brilliant I would have rather they abbreviated their set instead of padding it with the new-ordinary. Machine Gun and Silence aside it is fair to say that the other eight or so tracks that they played from that album on the night all tied for the best chance to get beer or visit the porta-potties award. In my opinion the best tracks from Third sound like outtakes from an 80s John Carpenter film – only with samples and loud drums – I don’t care what the reviewers say, the others are all uniformly mediocre.

After just over an hour the group thanked one and all and departed stage right, leaving the nodding-room only crowd to warmly invite them back for the inevitable encore, which lasted two more tracks, when in a frankly amazing gesture Beth Gibbons left the stage and ran along the front of the most redundant mosh-pit in history high fiving and hugging one and all. I say amazing because this is the very same ‘frontwoman’ who for ninety straight
minutes seemed to prefer watching the band’s own videos on the big screen rather than acknowledge the three or four thousand paid punters watching on with awe.

It sounds odd but even with the Mercury Rev unpleasantness and the regrettable reliance on their least album I was more than content with how things turned out. Replacing a couple of duds with a couple more superior tracks from the back catalog would have been preferable of course, but I am still happy to have shilled out for the gig. Who knows, if they head back our way in another 13 years I might stump up again?

OGR