Animal Crackers - Beasts Of Bourbon

Just how good are the Beasts of Bourbon? After this performance it’s hard to comprehend how criminally overlooked this band is. Australia has feted bands who will remain as nameless as they are incapable of rocking their way out of a paper bag while Tex and Co continue to turn on shows of such power and class that they make your eyes water.

OK, they had me from note one. Sauntering on to the stage and ripping straight into the nirvana of nihilism, ‘I Don’t Care About Nothing Anymore’ was as glorious an opening as you’ll ever hear. Think of all the bands who play filler all night and then trot out their one or two good songs for the encore. The Beasts come straight out with their Ace in the Hole and then some.

The Beasts are as much fun to watch as they are to listen to. No cut-out, airbrushed nonentities here but a band who’ve earned their looks the hard way. Considering the legendary tales of their ‘musical differences’ on and off stage, what strikes you tonight is the absolute affection that they seem to have for each other. Tony grins away like a garden gnome as he lays down a backbeat as solid as a shithouse door. Tex helps Brian as he hobbles on and off the stage and at times, he stops snarling and menacing to look over his shoulder with an ear to ear grin that says, “Jeez, this is our band and we are bloody great’.

The crowd of course love it and who wouldn’t. Great swathes of Charlie’s power chords intersected by Spencer Jones’ mesmerizing runs and detours and all the while Tex roars and bellows like a man possessed or slips into irony that is almost – how can I say this – ‘delicate’ as in the hilarious title track of ‘Little Animals’.

What a night. What a band. What a shame for those who missed it.

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