STONE MUSIC FESTIVAL, ANZ Stadium Sydney, 20 April 2013.
by BRIAN GIFFIN
THIS was an event that seemed destined to be remembered for all the wrong reasons, but somehow the Stone Music Festival succeeded in spite of every effort the promoters appeared to make for it not to, including a public stoush with one another, not communicating with angry ticketholders about constant changes to the program and seating arrangements, and a venue that still seems way too big for the demand.
Finally, there was the weather, with Sydney turning on torrential rain the night before and well into the early part of the day.
Richie Ramone appeared to take it as a personal insult that barely anyone was there, with he and his band serving up a ramshackle set of angry punk rock with a snarling delivery that didn’t seem to impress anyone. Backing up just over twelve hours after a gig the night before that was packed solid, Buckcherry apologised for their short playing time and crammed as much into it as they could, giving the earlybirds an old-school ass-kicking as heavy showers continued to keep most punters huddled in the stands. They may have only been on a short time, but it was long enough for Josh Todd to be completely shirtless by the end of the set, which wrapped with “Crazy Bitch” that actually got a few voices joining in.
If audience reception had been hesitant to this point, it warmed by degrees as Noiseworks entered the arena and opened their set, “Take Me Back” heading a parade of big melodic hard rock hits, Jon Stevens’ vocal and presence as solid as ever. He probably voiced the thoughts of the guys in the previous bands too when he admitted that it was way too early in the day for most musicians, but that didn’t affect their performance a single jot. Except for a slight lull when they decided to run through a new track that wasn’t bad but no one cared about, Noiseworks was a cavalcade of memories from bottom to top – “Miles and Miles”, “No Lies”, “Touch” and finally “Hot Chili Woman”. It was like being in high school again.
The Living End burst onto stage next and immediately proved to any who may have doubted that Australian hard rock is still in good shape, kicking things off with “Second Solution”, rolling straight on (ahem) into “Roll On” and then suffering a minor setback when the power cut out just before the chorus of “Who’s Gonna Save Us?” With good grace, humour and apparently boundless energy, they just rocked straight on as soon as they could, finishing off with a version of “Rock and Roll” that sounded like it had been rehearsed for the first time only the night before. The vibe was there, though, and that’s what live music is all about.
Kings of Chaos. Pic: Andrew Pittman
With the exception of Ramone’s shambles, everyone had been spot on, but once radio jock Rob Duckworth introduced Kings of Chaos, everything went up several notches – including the volume. When Sebastian Bach bounced to the front of stage and “Welcome to the Jungle” descended, somebody somewhere cranked the PA into overdrive. That was actually kind of appropriate for this band, however, and its breathtaking line-up of stars – Bach, Joe Elliot, Glenn Hughes, half the Use Your Illusion GNR crew and Stevie Stevens shredding his fingers off through blazing versions of “Highway Star” and “Burn”. The chemistry was intoxicating; almost the entire arena was singing along as Elliot led the band through “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and when the other two singers joined him for “Paradise City” it was one of those rare and incredible live concert moments where rock n roll perfection is reached. King of Chaos were dynamite.
Coming on after such a sublime moment would be daunting for many, but Jimmy Barnes and his enormous nine-piece band just took it all in their stride. In keeping with the vibe of the event so far, Barnes kept mainly to the hard rockers, and if there’s one thing he knows how to do, it’s rock hard. In saying that, the tempo did drop a little through “Lover Lover” and “Love is Enough” after “I’d Die to be With You Tonight” had set a cracking starting pace, but with “Lay Down Your Guns” things took off again and the momentum never really dropped until the final song. With so many people on stage there always seemed to be something going on and Barnes has always been one to give his backing musicians their head from time to time. His high register is long gone but his voice is still one with enormous power, more than holding its own despite the army of guitarists and backing singers around him and he still manages to murder a song or two now and then – today’s victims were “Flame Trees” and “Resurrection Shuffle” which just sounded like an arm-wrestle for dominance between Barnes and the rest of the band.
Aerosmith. Pic: Andrew Pittman
Then it was time for Aerosmith. Only a few weeks ago the Boston legends weren’t even on this bill but within seconds of hitting the stage with “Draw the Line” the Stone Music Festival was theirs, holding the crowd in the palm of their collective hands for the next ninety minutes. Whatever their personal relationships are like off-stage, in concert Aerosmith is a collective consciousness, a smokin’ hot, rollicking rock n’ roll machine with one goal in mind – rock the shit out of everyone. Steven Tyler is the consummate frontman, flamboyant, pouty, voice in magnificent form and still able to hit notes that were somewhere in the stratosphere; Joe Perry is the perfect foil, stalking the stage, hunched over his instrument. Brad Whitford grabs a share of the spotlight also with some fiery soloing of his own. “Livin’ on the Edge” takes on a haunting relevance in light of the events in their hometown only a few days before, and soon after Perry takes centrestage to dedicate a version of “Stop Messin’ Around” to the people of Boston, taking the vocal while Tyler nails some harmonica action. “What it Takes” is enormous with that aforementioned sky-high note from Tyler and the encore of “Dream On” and “Sweet Emotion” sets Van Halen up with one very hard act to follow. In an hour and a half, Aerosmith completely made up for skipping Australia for the last twenty-six years.
Van Halen never came to Australia while David Lee Roth was out front the first time, and this time it was just going to be here at this show, one night only. It’s a shame, then, that they turned out to be somewhat anti-climactic. Certainly their setlist couldn’t be faulted, although four songs from the new album was probably one too many, but it was hard to shake the feeling that something just seemed to be missing. Musically, Van Halen were perfect, particularly Ed who makes the most astonishing and impossible-seeming guitar stuff look easy as breathing and they weren’t shy when it came to digging deep into the catalogue for songs like “Dance the Night Away” and “Somebody Get Me a Doctor”. And yet there it was – essentially, there just wasn’t enough Diamond Dave. There were times when he was almost inaudible under the weight of Wolfgang’s over-loud bass and Eddie’s monster guitar shred. For while it was awesome to hear them open with “Unchained” and “Runnin’ With the Devil”, the distinct lack of powerful vocal eventually became downright annoying, especially when even Ed and Wolfgang’s backing vox were drowning Roth out most of the time. Whether it came down to a poor mix or Dave just not putting in the effort it’s hard to say, but a fireworks display that erupted right next to the stadium halfway through the set appeared to get more people’s attention. Australia has never been high on Van Halen’s touring agenda and it’s unclear if they’ll ever grace our shores again, so it’s a little disheartening that this performance turned out to be less than a spectacle. Aerosmith were fantastic, though.
IMAGES: Andrew Pittman
