Live Review: Thirsty Merc, Simon Meli

Despite of the length of time since Thirsty Merc last graced a hometown stage, it seems the fans’ adoration has not dimmed; indeed it appears absence has made the heart grow fonder if the packed house, big cheers and the random clapalongs, singalongs and bouncealongs last night at The Basement are any indication.

The show opened with the vocal stylings of The Voice star, Simon Meli. His revamped take on Eddie Vedder goes acoustic warmed the crowd and got a few fans going with an accomplished set that worked well in the intimate surrounds of the venue.

‘The Trio’, as the Merc men Rai Thistlethwayte, Phil Stack and Matt Smith jokingly dubbed themselves, cranked out a 12-song set that featured the big singles alongside punters’ requests, good natured heckles, a spate of instrumental ‘musical chairs’ and the odd anecdote.

The stripped-down set and reworked arrangements for the Acoustic Anniversary Album tour certainly brought the Merc songbook’s essentials to the fore, showing particularly in the transformation of My Completeness, and mid-set power ballad, Someday Someday, have undergone. The seamless integration of Wasting Time into I Wish Somebody Would Build A Bridge (So I Can Get Over Myself) was an unexpected bit of fun as was Thistlethwayte’s inadvertent transposition of verses in Emancipate Myself.

The choice of In The Summertime was the adriot high point the crowd was looking for before the mellow and melancholy encore number, 20 Good Reasons. All killer and no filler, as they say.