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Mansun Live - April 4th 1997
Melbourne Corner House
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Hey! Didn't I just see you at the Bis gig? And you? And you?! Yes, Melbourne's 'indie' community had a busy Friday night, and were out en masse to check out new UK hypes Mansun, at an impressively full gig for a band that most of the country hadn't even heard of two weeks ago.
The band hit the stage to the strains of album opener, and James Bond theme pastiche, The Chad Who Loved Me - and that was the last we heard of the strings or keyboards for the night. Yep, the live Mansun experience is quite Rock - a two guitar, one bass and drums affair, and a bloody loud one at that! We were treated to an array of singles, album tracks and b-sides, many segued together and delivered with the minimum of inbetween chat - essentially the only audience interaction being the occasional mumbled "cheers!". Mind you the band didn't have much of an audience to react to - I think Medusa must have introduced them whilst I was in the loos, as the Corner's bastard pillars were more active than 99.9% of the crowd! Which just may explain why band leader Paul Draper and bassist Stove King (yeah, yeah - great name for a white goods store.) spent an inordinate amount of the night with their backs to the audience, worshipping at the feet of the great musical God - the Marshall stack.
Anyway, back to the music. Third major label single Stripper Vicar, sans Beach Boys harmonies, was probably the first song to get anybody's attention, a recent concentrated J flogging no doubt helping its cause. Future single Taxloss lost its funky dance bits, but still survived as a highlight, the brilliant Wide Open Space (surely this will finally get a local single release?) took on a whole new edginess, and the evening culminated with a frenetic rage through the Oasis-esque album omission Take It Easy Chicken, which kept building and building until something had to give. And it did - after a flurry of feedback and noise that would give Concorde a run for its money the band just pissed off, with no encores.
Whilst Mansun may have ruffled a few feathers with their indifference in local interviews, it is certainly hard to fault their performance musically. It just would have been nice to see a glimpse of personality added to the equation - mind you to half of the indie poseurs present that just may have been sacrilege.