The Eagles of Death Metal

Expecting a big night with Eagles of Death Metal, I walked into the Palace with The Cheats just rounding up. Though I was impressed with their sound and gusto, I couldn’t get a grip on what they were about. Worth a second dip.

Ireland’s The Answer came out swinging, with a hearty “Hello Melbourne, we are The Answer, and we want you to coooooooooome…” which held great promise for a bounty of cheese to follow. To some degree their Led Zep meets AC/DC shtick did have similar merit to obvious comparison The Darkness, but whilst the Hawkins’ and Co. are so over the top sartorially and lyrically as to enable one to overlook their more derivative moments, The Answer’s approach is much straighter, relying on solidly played blues rock, completely devoid of self-conscious irony instead of invention or parody.

Singer Cormac Neeson looked and sounded much like a young Rory Gallagher channeling Golden God-era Robert Plant, right down to the impressionistic hand gestures and ‘Aah Aaaah’ guitar interplay. It was as if the 90’s had never happened. All the more reason to retreat to the front bar.

The house music dimmed for the Eagles of Death Metal eliciting cheers from ample crowd sweating up the room with their unhinged enthusiasm, and then was turned back up. Again it dimmed, the crowd cheered, and again it was turned up. Clearly we were being fucked with, yet all was forgiven when the Eagles of Death Metal finally did strut out onto stage. Frontman Jesse Hughes sporting aviators and a silver Roger Daltrey cape, combing his hair and handlebar ‘tache and pointing at girls in the crowd like a Southern Rock Fonz.

Launching into 'Don’t Speak' from the new record they powered through a spirited set of hepped-up open tuned ditties pausing only to allow Hughes to preen. Given his obvious enjoyment of his role it was a given that he would offer a dedication to the beautiful ladies of Melbourne (which he also did when I saw them in London, but was easier to believe this time around), who requested new number 'Cherry Cola'.

The set was a fairly even mix of material from both albums, the older numbers seeming to have more resonance with the crowd, who were gradually whipped into such a good-natured frenzy that even effervescent showman Hughes was taken aback. By the end of the set the apex was behind us, yet the crowd, energy waning, drenched in their own and other people’s sweat, gave all they had, warranting an encore with Hughes plucking out Midnight Creeper, later joined by the rest of the band for a fair cover of Brown Sugar.

An hour and a half of high voltage rock n roll had taken its toll however and the crowd seemed almost as relieved as I was when they finished, content in the knowledge that after such a huge response it won’t be long before the Eagles of Death Metal return to get their freak on.

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