The Basics- The Post Office Hotel

No trip to Melbourne would be complete without heading out to a gig, and Leilani was very lucky that The Basics were playing an intimate show at The Post Office Hotel in Coburg while she was here.  We met up with Mary at the venue in time for the first act The Bluebottles.  Featuring Michael Hubbard (the original guitarist for The Basics), his brother Joe, and Sam Raines and Rich Bradbeer from The Greasers, they played a very tight set of instrumental 60s surf rock.  I found them quite entertaining in their sharp suits and we were even treated to a cover of "Walk Don't Run" by The Ventures.

The Basics were not wearing their suits for tonight's performance.  Kris came out solo and started the gig with an acoustic version of "All Or Nothing" before being joined on stage by Wally and Tim.  The set list featured a lot of new songs, which we were very privileged be able to hear.  Primarily written by Kris, we had the politically themed "The Lucky Country" and "Time Poor," "My Old Man," "I'm A Woman," and the standout new track for me "Every Part Of Me."  We also got to listen to newer tracks that were played at the shows last year such as the beautiful "To Think Of You," the hand clapping fun of "Roundabout" and their newest single "So Hard For You."  It was good they've been able to road test these songs before heading off to record at Abbey Road Studios in London in the upcoming weeks.

The extended set list also contained many old favorites including "The No. 1 Cause Of Death Amongst Youth Today," "Second Best," "Better" and the rarely played "Bitten By The Same Bug."  Tim showed his range from the acoustic beauty of "Hey Rain" to the rocking guitar and vocals of "Have Love, Will Travel."  He also demonstrated his air guitar/dance moves when his guitar cut out during the guitar solo for The Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night."  "Three Cool Cats" featured Kris singing the lyrics in different accents, which was amusing.  However, the funniest moment of the night was when Wally repeatedly fluttered his drum brushes like a butterfly before one of the songs.

For the encore we got the triple Stand Out/Fit In pairing of "Hey There!," "Just Hold On" and "Rattle My Chain."  And it was a great finish to the night with old live show classics "My Baby" and The Police's "Roxanne" (see my little Vine clip) complete with Wally losing multiple drum sticks during the chorus but finally getting one to stay in his hand.  Hopefully it won't be ages until we get to see The Basics live again, but it's exciting that they are going off to record and there is the possibility of a new album on the horizon.

Here is a recent appearance by The Basics on ABC Radio National's The Music Show playing "The Lucky Country" and "I'm A Woman"