Live Review: Fuel

It's been a long, long time since LA four-piece Fuel last graced Adelaide stages - 1998, in fact. That was the tour to celebrate their multiplatinum-selling Sunburn album, and they returned to Adelaide to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that album.
The four members casually strolled out onstage to a huge cheer and cranked straight into Untitled, the first track off the iconic album. Singer/guitarist and only original member Brett Scallions was looking ageless and fit. It's like he hasn't aged in the 19 years since last coming to Adelaide.

Going straight into Bittersweet, it was evident that the band was going to play the album in sequential order. The way the fans know it rather than the hits at the end of the set. They sounded tight and Scallions' voice was strong. He always displayed a slight nasally snarl, which worked well on the album and was even better onstage.

Their biggest song, Shimmer, was hard to escape back in the late '90s. The band had a knack for writing a catchy hook and this was their best effort. It was received with the hugest roar and up went the phones to record it. He later thanked us as Australia helped them sell many albums and singles.

Second guitarist Jason Womack clearly lives and breathes guitar. His off-the-cuff blues riffing at the start of the title track, Sunburn, gave the song a new lease on life.

While they are mainly a rock act with slight pop elements, they have some heavy riffs as well. Ozone displayed almost Page Hamiltonesque (of Helmet) riffage.

An extended version of Hideaway concluded the first set. This album is unlikely mentioned in too many classic album lists of the '90s, but it should. It's a solid album from beginning to end and doesn't feature a bad track.

A three-song encore concluded what was a better than expected show. Sometimes nostalgic shows don't always work. Bad Day, Puppet Strings and Haemorrhage (In My Hands) ended a great show. Womack played a quickfire AC/DC riff and Scallions paid tribute to Malcolm Young. While it's not the original band, Scallions and co rocked it like it was 1998 all over again.