Hunners merch has gotta be right up there: Footy scarves in three different team colour choices, coaster sets, stubby holders – all very 'Strayan. There are also many fans wearing multiple earrings in single ears, which is a blast from the past. When are those chain-thread earrings gonna make a comeback? “Welcome to the Hunters & Collectors democracy,” Mark Seymour says and memories of Surf Life Saving Club discos come flooding back as soon as the band crank into opener Talking To A Stranger, complete with Richard Lowenstein's accompanying sticky-tape face video clip. A band that utilises French horn has never been so macho. The audience sing along with Blind Eye (Walk Away) in full voice – “Don't take no for an answer” – and immediately Doug Falconer's effortless drumming style is on display. Seymour's storyteller delivery comes complete with grand gestures and his diction pulls focus toward Australiana lyrical content: “I'll live on the dole or I'll die on the dust” (Inside A Fireball).
“Wow, we're in a theatre,” Seymour marvels before belting out True Tears Of Joy. This Morning is an absolute behemoth – two songs in one. It's a shame latecomers shuffle into the row behind us at this point and have a lot to say during Seymour's tender phrasing – didn't think punters in this demographic could get so wasted and act so oblivious! A lot of toilet breaks are taken during Where Do You Go?: an underrated song complete with killer sing-along chorus. Seymour's vocal is hoarse to close out Stuck On You, but the frontman certainly wears a dark, long-sleeved collared shirt well. Those dirty riff combos in Say Goodbye get us all on our feet, dusting off moves from the '80s. Hunters & Collectors' commercial hit Holy Grail's riff really does evoke Boston's More Than A Feeling. Electric guitarist Barry Palmer's joy is palpable and his precision playing throughout 42 Wheels – a rumbling, discordant masterpiece Seymour introduces as a “trucking song” – makes seemingly impossible progressions look oh-so easy. It seems Tony Abbott bashing is becoming an onstage banter staple these days and When The River Runs Dry's chorus certainly takes its time coming in within the arrangement. The row in front sways with arms around each other's shoulders, prematurely, during Do You See What I See? (and revisit this bonding exercise later for Throw Your Arms Around Me). Seymour expertly switches from irate to sensitive persona in accordance with the demands of each song, most of which employ the extended, fluttering-note unison finish.
The lengthy encore includes Hunters & Collectors' moving take on I Believe To My Soul by Ray Charles and (of course) Throw Your Arms Around Me (which Seymour dedicates to the asylum seekers before plugging Palm Sunday's Walk For Justice For Refugees march). The Horns Of Contempt truly define Hunners and our closer tonight sees Jack Howard aptly demonstrating The Slab dance during the menacing, rhythmic powerhouse of the same name – “...And everything will be alright.”
