What is there left to say about THE GO-BETWEENS? So many superlatives have been lumped upon them over the years, they should all be bent double by now. In fact tonight, Robert has a bad back, so maybe its beginning to take its toll.. Yet despite all the praise, here we are in a crowd of about 200 in the Birmingham Academy 2, upstairs rather than on the main stage. About as many pople as there were to see Tom Vek in Bristol recently.. I feel like shouting out "Where are you, you bastards?" at the top of my voice. Which is odd, because as the Go Betweens take the stage, someone at the back shouts out "Where have you been, you bastards?". Its a joke, of course, but not really that funny - I'm sure they'd have been back in Birmingham sooner if more people had bought their records..
But anyway, enough moaning. Once the band launch into their first song, "Finding You" from Oceans Apart, all traces of anger and frustration slip away, and I'm grinning along with everyone else. The Go Betweens tonight are simply superb, just the four of them playing a collection of songs which surely can't be bettered. There's Cattle and Cain, Draining the Pool for You, Spring Rain, Bye Bye Pride, Streets of Your Town from the earlier albums, and German Farmhouse, Too Much of One Thing, The Clock, Make Her Day from the more recent albums. And then there's the new stuff - Here Comes a City, Boundary Rider, Darlinghurst Nights - these songs sound so good that you can tell the band just know they've hit a new, rich vein of form.
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Grant McLennan wears the same shirt he was wearing at their Barbican show last year, and looks cool. Robert Forster really should be an actor in some Tom Stoppard play - you expect him to spring onto the stage shouting "Where's Mildred? The cats up a tree!". He pulls funny faces and does weird little dance steps and is extremely camp, yet at the same time a commanding presence on the stage. Adele looks great in a bright yellow country shirt and sings like an angel, while Glenn resembles a young Lou Reed behind the drums, also contributing some great vocals. And its all so simple, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass and Drums - Robert even refuses to use any pedals. Sometimes you think a song has reached it height when one more vocal is added to the mix and the whole thing is taken to another level.
As part of the encore, Robert and Grant play a version of Part Company from Spring Hill Fair - its somewhat ropey but by this time we can forgive them anything, and the 200 or so people make a heck of a lot of noise. Trouble is, it shouldn't be 200, it should be 2000...
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