Live Review: Tumbleweed, Datura4, The Secret Buttons

They came from near and far – and all walks of life – to worship the ‘Weed – Tumbleweed, that is, the Gong’s mightiest ‘90s rockers.

Half (or more) of the crowd were too busy schmoozing in the courtyard to catch the rad action from the two support acts, but that was the only negative to a great night of heavy rock n’ roll.

The Secret Buttons delivered a spirited opening set of spacey stoner rock straight from the Hawkwind garage, and if they were more stoner (or stoned) than anyone else present, no-one seemed to mind.

The Hitchcock/Mariani wall-of-sound alliance was set to eleven as Datura4 – fast becoming international cult heroes – kicked out the jams in support of their debut LP, Demon Blues. Whilst the seasoned guitarists adopted relatively obelisk-like stances as they alternated vocals and won over the ever-building crowd, the Hall/Loasby rhythm section were left to get their groove on musically and physically through an energetic set of heavy boogie that hit all the right notes.

When The ‘Weed took the stage it was with a handful of beers each, and no time was wasted before cracking into the ’95 classic Hang Around. Talk about a room filler – suddenly the band room was packed.

Touring in support of their 20-years-young Galactaphonic album, now reissued in ‘Super’ format, Tumbleweed ran through that album from start to finish as lights twinkled Christmas-style one minute, then shone in rainbow spots the next, then back lighting the band, then washing the whole stage in light, which kept the light guy busy and the crowd interested.

Despite some shorter and thinning hair both on and off the stage, not much else has changed: Tumbleweed are as fuzzy and trippy as ever, and singer Richie Lewis threw himself about, arms flailing and head shaking, just as he always did, through the excellent TV Genocide, Armchair Ride, Feed The River, Jupiter, Gyroscope and more. Despite the sad absence of late bass guitarist Jay Curley, Tumbleweed still have the right stuff.

Riffs as warm as a cliff face after a long summer’s day, take-a-trip-with-me-to-space lyrics and even a crowd surfer or two helped cement the two-decades-ago time travel experience, and after the album was done a run through such favourites from the triple j years as Daddy Long Legs, Sundial (Mary Jane), a cover from The Dirty Lovers (You’re A Tramp) and from their recent Sounds From The Other Side album, the seven-minute-plus trance-rock of Mountain.

A false finish highlighted by a near-karaoke play over the sound system of Spandau Ballet’s True was followed by a scorching take on The Flamin’ Groovies’ Slow Death, dedicated to Datura4’s Dom Mariani, Stoned and Rainbow Waterwillow, bringing a great night to a close.

Proving that great music is timeless, there was barely a whiff of nostalgia to the night, and the only hint that this performance featured tracks dating back two decades was the slight weighting of the crowd towards the older demographic, even though there were still enough young’uns present to lend us hope that younger generations are discovering it and getting it.

Originally published in X-Press Magazine