Live Review: You Am I, Magic Dirt

Crowds spilled into last night’s sellout Twilight At Taronga through the rain, a welcome change from Thursday’s oppressive heat. The fog settled across the harbour added atmosphere to the evening, obscuring the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the distance, the clouds pressing down on people assembled for ‘90s Geelong rockers Magic Dirt. 

Magic Dirt, following an eight-year hiatus after the passing of founding bassist Dean Turner, to whom they played tribute tonight, have returned to Australian stages and ear canals with gusto. Frontwoman Adalita Srsen is still a cool-as-Ice force to be reckoned with, moshing and flailing, ably accompanied by her wide-stanced bandmates. There’s plenty of thrashing around from guitarist Raúl Sánchez and touring bassist Steve Patrick, the music matching up with the lighting setup; flashes of light could be mistaken for lightning if you weren’t looking closely. The crowd remained mostly seated, huddled under raincoats and umbrellas on picnic rugs on the lawn, but everyone sang along for rousing choruses on some of Magic Dirt’s best-known songs like All My Crushes and Dirty Jeans. By the end of their set it was pissing down, and between sets we could just barely make out fireworks through the fog.

You Am I strode out to the adoring cheers of the crowd, now all on their feet. Somehow the band were dry, and Rogers even dared to wear white pants, a cowboy-style hat and an open shirt. The idealised image of a rockstar, at times he kicked his legs back like a horse before a race or scuttled to bassist Andy Kent like a crab on sand. The set, from Rogers, in particular was all swagger and bravado, deliberately playing on the idea of Rogers as a kind of alt sex symbol as he swayed his hips and at one point even seemed to attempt a middle-aged twerk. His banter with the crowd, and with his bandmates, who all played their own rocker parts perfectly - careening around, kicking out, leaning back - was fresh and entertaining. Rogers belongs on a stage: there is no better frontman in Australia. 

The band, while now Melbourne-based, formed in Sydney in the late ‘80s, so they’ve got a devoted following here, and Rogers made sure to acknowledge the place our city has in their hearts while fiddling with one of his disobedient wide sleeves. One of the biggest reactions from the crowd came during Purple Sneakers, of course, its opening lines shouted back by the audience: “Had a scratch only you could itch/Underneath the Glebe Point Bridge.” “Let’s never call it a day, gentlemen,” Rogers said to his band mid-song. Afterwards he took his hat off like a cowboy tipping his hat to a lady and let it drop to the floor. Towards the end of the set, Rogers, after speaking about their hair ‘dyed’ silver, their velvets and silks, and how they’ve “got to dance”, went earnest: “From our family to your family, thanks for sticking with us tonight. Enough of my yakking: let’s boogie.” 

Twilight At Taronga feels geared towards an older audience – the age demo who film concerts on their iPads - the bands still current and electric, but having reached their nexus of popularity a few years back in practice means that sets are a celebration of their greatest hits. Almost all You Am I’s classics got a go here, and the fans were delighted, boho mums turning circles in the rain right from opener How Much Is Enough?, and something like a mosh forming at the front for set closer Berlin Chair. In between there was everything from a filled-out Rumble, Mr Milk, Cathy’s Clown, Good Mornin’, and Rogers dumping his guitar for a moving Heavy Heart. The set closed with Rogers, showman, windmill-strumming his guitar through the feedback. Everyone came out for a bow, a moment to hug and kiss each other and bask in the adoration of the devoted crowd.