Splendour Selection #8 - The Living End

So The Living End are back for Splendour 2011. I know what you're thinking. "God damn it Chris Cheney, just get a new party trick for your stage show. Awesome, so you can play guitar with a VB stubbie. I've seen it 4 times now! It's no longer impressive."

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

The Living End have changed about as much as Grinspoon over the past decade. The only difference is, The Living End actually know how to play their instruments. And music. And I have some respect for the band members.

But lets face it, since their debut album, they've never really been able to capture that same unrelenting, mischievous, don't-give-a-fuck, rockabilly sound they bombarded the music charts and Triple J's Hottest 100 with back in 1998. They just didn't explore any more musical ideas or genres and seemed to stagnate on the same sound, album after album. Cheney then got all 'deep' and tried writing lyrics about meaningful social issues, but just ended up sounding like a superficial prat. The mischief was gone.

Having said all that, no one can deny the energy these guys produce on stage. I'll be watching them at Splendour before cutting it short to head to Regina Spektor. But if you have not yet witnessed The Living End in a live setting, then I highly recommend you make your way to the Amphitheatre stage at 9:15 on Saturday night to see them play. The beer bottle trick will be entertaining. If you've only seen it once, it's still rather good at that stage, and Cheney will most definitely throw his guitar high into the air (that's impressive to me, because his Gretsch costs about $8000, is one amazing guitar and he throws that thing fucking high.)

The live stage is also where this band belong and no CD can ever really do them justice. They are all fantastically talented musicians who know how to work up an audience. For that alone, they're worth a look.

They have a new album coming out too, which means new songs throughout the set will no doubt be significant. A new single has also been released, which you can check out here.

It does start with a bit of a different flavour before moving back to familiar territory. Will this be the album that brings back the 'classic' Living End? Probably not. But they're cool nonetheless and down to earth. And unlike Andrew Stockdale, Australia's second biggest douche after Kyle Sandilands, they're not full of themselves either.

So go see them. Support some Or-Stray-Ans. Just don't bring a flag. Please.