James Reyne @ The Kirwan Tavern 22/06/24

Photo by A Snee

Having grown up listening to Australian Crawl mostly in my parents' or friends’ cars, their songs always remind me of summer times. However, it was a pleasant atmosphere out the back of the KT under a cool winter’s sky listening to James Reyne and his band of six musicians performing the hits from Crawl File on the 40th anniversary of its release.

Like Reyne’s vocal quality, the songs on Australian Crawl’s first compilation of greatest hits have aged well. With Reyne having passed his 67th birthday, he still commands the stage and can hold a tune like he did back in the 70s and 80s. There were plenty of crowd favourites and punters singing and dancing along with the set list. Uptempo hits like Errol, Beautiful People and Things Don’t Seem sounded as tight and rehearsed as the studio-recorded versions we’re used to hearing on the radio.

Reyne balanced out the 90-minute performance with their slower tempo hits too, putting aside his electric guitar for some acoustic play with Downhearted, Reckless and Oh No Not You Again. It was also great to hear a stripped-back, “reggae” version of The Boys Light Up. The harmonies were also magical - all seven musicians contributed beautifully to songs such as White Limbo and Lakeside. The band also received a warm reception playing Reyne’s solo hit from 1987 Fall of Rome. It’s a pity he couldn’t have wrangled James Blundell onto the stage to perform Way Out West - now that would’ve been special!

For those who were in attendance, whether you were up close to the stage, huddled under a blanket in the seated area or down the back in the bar pavilion, this was a show that conjured up memories of our younger years when all a good rock concert needed was a few guitars, bass, drums and keys, combined with some strong vocals, to get the party started.