Live Review: Tim Rogers & The Bamboos

Tim Rogers & The Bamboos brought a performance packed with surprises. Rogers is an artist known for eccentricities and an abrasive demeanour; he delivered the one true thing you can expect from him, ‘the unexpected’.

The mature crowd grooved along to a funky version of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off with The Bamboos bandleader Lance Ferguson’s saxophone relishing its time to shine. It was a fun contrast seeing an eight-piece Reservoir Dogs-esque band turn cheesy pop music into funk.

Funk turned to folk for percussive track Lime Rickey. It showcased the band’s strengths; the track just seemed to linger on-and-on, like it was performed in slow-motion. Rogers abruptly threw the crowd back into reality, ranting about social media warriors and feeling affinity with “people who don’t tweet”. 

Classic track Heavy Heart caught everyone off-guard as this piece of beautiful songwriting was sung with heaving conviction from both Rogers and the crowd. The Bamboos appeared proud to cover the Australian classic.

To up the ante they finished on I Got Burned, and the baby-boomer crowd embraced their sexuality and swayed along to a six-minute version of the ‘baby-making’ sonic pleasure.

Through moments of freak cooees into the stratosphere and instrument checks as if in rehearsal, the unison between Tim Rogers & The Bamboos was easy to see — it was these unpolished moments that made it even more clear that he’s such a genius yet such a larrikin.