The Meteors // The Waterfront, 20.09.12
Lenore caught psychobilly pioneers The Meteors live at The Waterfront and got a little more attitude and less music than expected.
Tonight at The Waterfront is a group who are thought of by many, including themselves, to be the founders of the psychobilly genre. Combining rock and roll rhythms with punk attitude The Meteors certainly shook up the scene back in the day and, as tonight's turn out shows, they can still draw a crowd.
Openers Voodoo Ghost Town are local boys and obviously very chuffed to be on the bill. Despite the odd show of nerves and debuting a new guitarist they do more than a decent job of getting the crowd interested. At the more punk end of the psychobilly scale (but still with the obligatory double bass) the guys rock through their set with energy and vigor, setting the scene for second support, The Marksmen, perfectly. (They must have impressed someone else too as they are booked to support Demented Are Go in November).
Another local support band The Marksmen own the stage as soon as they step onto it. Showing their obvious experience playing live they rip through each song channeling the likes of Vince Ray as well as the headliners themselves with psychobilly double bass and gravelly vocals. Despite some missed cues the group are tight and in high spirits, bantering with the crowd and their own mob of supporters from their hometown. While each song has clear influences the four piece are everything that the psychobilly genre is about and set the bar high for the final act.
The Meteors tonight consist of a three piece - vocals and guitar, drums and, of course, double bass - with frontman Paul Fenech being the only original member. The crowd is all ages with some audience members clearly fans from the band's inception in 1980. The set is much as would be expected from a band with as large a repertoire of songs as The Meteors - some old, some newer, and all the classics - the only thing that was missing was electricity and a connection with the crowd. Fenech is well known for his abrupt manner and tendency to speak his mind no matter what the subject and tonight was no exception. It did, at times, seem as though he wasn't playing for the crowd but more for himself, throwing insults and making speeches, as though the gig was an opportunity to express his views on topical subjects rather than play songs. For some fans this is part of seeing The Meteors live, for those less familiar with his style it just detracted from the music. After another rant and a homophobic jibe (which removed any last shred of enjoyment from the gig personally), they left the stage with a "fuck you". The crowd, many of whom had been singing along and joining in with the mosh pit, began to cheer and chant for an encore and, as an extra whack of punk attitude, the lights were abruptly turned up. No encore. Go home. For newer fans the gig could have easily been off putting, for longer standing fans it was probably like old times, Paul Fenech probably doesn't care either way.
