Gomez - Adelaide, 17th October 2012
Words: Jo Taylor
English indie rock band Gomez have been together 16 years, released 7 albums and remain one of the few bands that have been together for such an expansive amount of time and not had any line-up changes. Their show at the Governor Hindmarsh demonstrated that they have gained a dedicated following in that time. Originally not on the tour schedule, Adelaide demanded the band come to our fine city, and that they did.
It took a while for the crowd the gather, and due to a seemingly low level of advertising, the venue wasn’t filled to the capacity of which Gomez have previously been treated to. But once the five unassuming guys took the stage and launched into Revolutionary Kind and Las Vegas Dealer from their second album Liquid Skin, the room came alive. I Will Take You There from their 2011 release Whatever’s On Your Mind followed.
When asked “So, has anyone voted on the website?” almost the entire crowd’s hands fly into the air. “The deal is, we play the top ten voted songs amongst a bunch of other songs. This next one, is the first time it has appeared in the top ten. So well done Adelaide” the band explained, before launching into the gorgeous Notice from 2006 How We Operate.
From their first album Bring It On, the hit Get Myself Arrested always proves a popular sing-along which then continued into The Place and the People before another tune from Liquid Skin, the crowd favourite Rhythm & Blues Alibi.
It took a while for the crowd the gather, and due to a seemingly low level of advertising, the venue wasn’t filled to the capacity of which Gomez have previously been treated to. But once the five unassuming guys took the stage and launched into Revolutionary Kind and Las Vegas Dealer from their second album Liquid Skin, the room came alive. I Will Take You There from their 2011 release Whatever’s On Your Mind followed.
When asked “So, has anyone voted on the website?” almost the entire crowd’s hands fly into the air. “The deal is, we play the top ten voted songs amongst a bunch of other songs. This next one, is the first time it has appeared in the top ten. So well done Adelaide” the band explained, before launching into the gorgeous Notice from 2006 How We Operate.
From their first album Bring It On, the hit Get Myself Arrested always proves a popular sing-along which then continued into The Place and the People before another tune from Liquid Skin, the crowd favourite Rhythm & Blues Alibi.
By this point, it was starting to warm up. And not just the crowd. The band itself took a while to get into the gig. But slowly and surely, they started to get into it, which fed into the audience. However, altogether the onstage banter and enthusiasm wasn’t as strong compared to previous live Gomez experiences. Perhaps that’s what 16 years touring & playing together does.
Airstream Driver was the first song to get a look in from the 2009 album A New Tide before heading back into the first album with Tijuana Lady and Bring It On followed by another surprise top ten voted track Our Goodbye from the latest album.
“This is a left turn you didn’t expect” chimed multi-instrumentalist and most chatty of the band, Tom Gray, before the beats of the energetic Machismo kicked in. It is impossible not to dance to this track and it raised the energy of the night “It’s been a long time since you’ve heard that one, right?” Indeed!
The electric Bring Your Lovin’ Back Here maintained the crowd’s high, then leading into Ruff Stuff and the catchy Ping One Down from 2002 release In Our Gun. Finally the night was heating up and it seemed now that everyone was having the high energy fun that was expected from a Gomez show!
Then the familiar guitar of Whippin’ Piccadilly starts! It’s an oldie but a goody and one that throughout the years has always proven a crowd pleaser and tonight was no exception. The addictive beat has everyone moving and this is exactly why the fans have remained faithful followers.
Airstream Driver was the first song to get a look in from the 2009 album A New Tide before heading back into the first album with Tijuana Lady and Bring It On followed by another surprise top ten voted track Our Goodbye from the latest album.
“This is a left turn you didn’t expect” chimed multi-instrumentalist and most chatty of the band, Tom Gray, before the beats of the energetic Machismo kicked in. It is impossible not to dance to this track and it raised the energy of the night “It’s been a long time since you’ve heard that one, right?” Indeed!
The electric Bring Your Lovin’ Back Here maintained the crowd’s high, then leading into Ruff Stuff and the catchy Ping One Down from 2002 release In Our Gun. Finally the night was heating up and it seemed now that everyone was having the high energy fun that was expected from a Gomez show!
Then the familiar guitar of Whippin’ Piccadilly starts! It’s an oldie but a goody and one that throughout the years has always proven a crowd pleaser and tonight was no exception. The addictive beat has everyone moving and this is exactly why the fans have remained faithful followers.
Sadly it seemed that just as the night was really taking off, it was time to wind the evening's festivities up. The beautiful How We Operate closed the set, with the band putting their everything into it. Singer Ben Ottewell’s vocals throughout were stunning and guitarist Ian Ball, bassist Paul ‘Blackie’ Blackburn, Olly Peacock on drums as well as Tom Gray, really seemed to get into the song. When it finally ended and they walked off stage, everyone, including the band, were smiling and there was a buzz in the room.
They returned to stage looking triumphant and ready to rock, starting the encore with the pop driven Options.
“We’ve been together for 16 years! Time flies when you’re having fun. So much so, that we are doing our 15 year anniversary tour a year late” Gray laughs “But this is the very first song we ever wrote together”. Slowly the beginning strains of Get Miles kicked in and it couldn’t be a more perfect way to end the night. They jammed through the song and considering it was their first ever song, you realise that right from the beginning, these guys were onto something and it continues to be one of their best songs.
As the crowd disbursed and the beer glasses cleared, it’s obvious that 16 years on from their inception, they still have it!
They returned to stage looking triumphant and ready to rock, starting the encore with the pop driven Options.
“We’ve been together for 16 years! Time flies when you’re having fun. So much so, that we are doing our 15 year anniversary tour a year late” Gray laughs “But this is the very first song we ever wrote together”. Slowly the beginning strains of Get Miles kicked in and it couldn’t be a more perfect way to end the night. They jammed through the song and considering it was their first ever song, you realise that right from the beginning, these guys were onto something and it continues to be one of their best songs.
As the crowd disbursed and the beer glasses cleared, it’s obvious that 16 years on from their inception, they still have it!