It’s been a few years since Courtney Barnett was back in Brisbane at the iconic Tivoli Theatre. This is the 4th timeI’ve seen her live and can’t wait. We take a lot of pride in our Australian artists and it is great to have Melbourne’s own back in her home country. After she put out her previous instrumental record and ended her time with Milk Records. I thought it was the last I would see of Barnett for some time. To my surprise, she came out with a fire record, Creature of Habit , and a tour to match. Let’s take a look at the show I went to in Brisbane.
Let’s start with the opening act Drifting Clouds. I always suggest supporting the opening act, because it will expose you to some new music. Drifting Clouds is actually an Indigenous solo act from Arnhem Land (Darwin) who fuses 80s style synth with more organic woodwinds and percussion. He also sings in his native language and is a one man show. For the tour with Courtney, he brought along another synth player and a drummer. This made for a fuller sound and some great backing vocals. I think it’s always a good idea for solo acts that rely on studio production to bring additional artists to help them replicate their sound. Some standout tracks were Bawuypawuy and Rarrandharr.
Now it’s time for Courtney to take the stage. Much like last time she was in Brisbane, back in 2021, she was joined by Bones Sloane on bass and Stella Mozgawa on drums. Bones has been with the band since the early days, while Stella joined in 2021 and has featured on the last 3 records. There is a lot to go over. We’ll start with the new record and then move into some highlights / general thoughts. The tour is for her new record, Creature of Habit. Usually, most people have no idea what the new songs are, but Courtney is beloved in Australia and the new record is really good…so the crowd was really into the new stuff, which makes for a great show. She kicked the whole thing off with the lead single Stay in Your Lane and the guitar was turned all the way up to 11. Screaming with punk ferocity and shredding on the guitar until is spontaneously combusted, she let everyone know they were in for a killer show. Some other highlights from the new record were Mantis, Another Beautiful Day and a heartbreaking slowed down solo rendition of Mostly Patient to start the encore.
The show really kicked off when Courtney jumped into I’m Not Your Mother I’m Not Your Bitch without warning. Stella’s drums were blistering while Courtney’s crunching guitar and raw vocals gave me vibes of what it had to be like seeing Black Flag or Patti Smith live. It was pure punk goodness. The crowd was heaving and classics like Avant Gardener (my personal favourite), History Eraser and Elevator Operator got huge pops. Barnett was on fire, but Stella on the drums was going toe to toe with her. Stella’s drums really kept the audience up and were raw and a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. She’s an amazing drummer and seeing her live was transcendent.
Barnett kept announcing that she was going to sing some “old stuff” to crowd’s delight. I think there was a good mix of new and old with the encore being mostly hits. The encore featured classics Canned Tomatoes (Whole), Pedestrian at Best and the overwhelming crowd favourite Nobody Really Cares if you Don’t go to the Party. In all the shows I’ve seen Courtney Barnett, she has always connected with the crowd and this was no different. Some banter here and there kept people going, but it was when she announced her birthday was yesterday that everything hit another level. The crowd spontaneously serenaded her with Happy Birthday complete with some drumming by Stella. Barnett gave a shout out to all the Scorpios in the audience and everyone had a laugh. From that point on she would yell out the occasional “fuck yeah!” and even tried to get a cover of Shania Twain’s Man! I Feel like a Woman going before laughing and saying that she couldn’t remember the words. She did say that she was going to “learn the fuck out of that song for next time.” The first couple of guitar riffs of Twain’s classic was enough to get the band and the crowd going, which was fun. Australia loves Courtney Barnett and her genuine connection to the crowd is something to behold.
Barnett has a punk attitude and just goes for it. She’s a mix of Dylan, Bikini Kill, Jack White and Vegemite all blended together and served with 25 shots of caffeine on an electric guitar. She’s an amazing writer with raw punk energy and an onstage charisma that makes every live show a must see. I can’t wait for her to come back to Brisbane…and I can hear the rest of Man! I Feel like a Woman.
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