Live Review: Mental As Anything

Republic Bar played host to ‘80s new-wave rock legends Mental As Anything, and thus the spattering of 20-somethings, not used to being outnumbered in their natural habitat, respectfully gave way to a mass of happy baby boomers.

Singer and keys extraordinaire Greedy Smith strolled on stage in a fresh royal blue suit and a ponytail, resembling a charismatic cross between Penn (of Penn & Teller) and Meatloaf. He beamed lovingly at the crowd. While I struggled to navigate through the tightly-packed crowd in order to get a glimpse of the stage, the band launched straight into an upbeat rendition of Too Many Times.

They pleased the hit-hungry crowd with classics Come Around, Date With Destiny and the amazing Live It Up, and it soon became clear that the Mentals are still as fun as they used to be.

Indeed they’re known for their carefree origins, forming at art school in the late ‘70s and only playing music, allegedly, for the free beer. On this night in Hobart close to 40 years later, they were still playing for the fun of it and it was very endearing. 

Greedy chatted genuinely to his audience throughout the night. He charmed us with a local reference to the snow on ‘the mountain’. After Live It Up, he coyly informed us that his mind often wanders while singing such old songs, leading him to wonder if he was even singing the right lyrics. “And then I thought,” he exclaimed, “this would be a great song to play at my funeral!” To which the crowd noisily agreed.

The Mentals were irresistible. Everyone followed the lead of Greedy and singer/guitarist Martin Plaza with a joyful, bouncy, side-to-side dance, which will henceforth be known as the ‘Mental Two-Step’, the only dance move physically possible for their happy new-wave rock music.

The hits kept coming without a break, from an intrinsically cool Mr Natural to the very sweet If You Leave Me Can I Come Too? and the cheeky hit that instigated the band’s success, Nips Are Getting Bigger. Mental As Anything pre-empted their encore, tying things up with a superb instrumental surf number and the rollicking song of Young Einstein fame, Rock And Roll Music.

It wasn’t quite mental, but there was a lot of top music, a lot of love in the room and a distinct lack of egotistical or jaded musicians.