Live Review: Superchunk, Bed Wettin' Bad Boys

It was 1994 when Superchunk toured Australia for the first time, and despite a few cancelled promises, they have not returned until now. It's not surprising to see the appropriate setting of the Annandale fill up early. The honour of being the only Australian band to support them on the tour went to Bed Wettin' Bad Boys, in so many ways the perfect choice. The parallels between Nic Warnock's band and label RIP Society in a bizarre way mirror that of a young Mac McHaughn from Superchunk and his own label Merge. The Bad Boys are not as loose as they threaten to be, and they power through their debut album on muscle memory and throw in a hack cover of ELO's Don't Bring Me Down to erase any doubts they might be taking themselves too seriously. It's interesting to think about how Warnock perceived the night. His usual dry wit and banter made frequent references to obscure NY hardcore bands and he teased the audience asking for the Cro-Mags – fans in the crowd, perhaps annoyed at the nostalgia of the whole thing, maybe just having a bit of fun.

The Superchunk show was markedly different to other nostalgia tours however, especially considering that the majority of Superchunk fans in Australia have never had the chance to see them. The fanaticism of some folks was amazing, Mac at one point telling guitarist Jim Wilbur that dudes in the front row were quoting his stage banter from live recordings 20 years old. The other major difference between these and other nostalgia circle jerks is that Superchunk never stopped releasing great records – few bands have aged as gracefully. Songs from their newest album, I Hate Music, like Me & You & Jackie Mittoo, snuggled up perfectly to well-worn favourites like Detroit Has A Skyline, Like A Fool and Nu Bruises. The absence of bass player Laura Ballance was obvious, but ring-in Jason Narducy was clearly having an amazing time, locking in with the vibrant drumming (and personality) of Jon Wurster with ease. Mac thanked Bed Wetting Bad Boys a bunch of times, and he and Jim jumped in with their own jokes about the Cro-Mags, showing their hardcore stripes. The set finished with a triumphant triple play of Slack MF, Hyper Enough and Precision Auto, which is more than any fan could have asked for.