The Hitmen

It's been about fifteen years since The Hitmen graced a Melbourne stage. So long, in fact, that many Hitmen fans (not to mention the band’s detractors) went into tonight’s show with a sense of trepidation, well prepared to manage expectations diminished by the passage of time. Could the Hitmen, once described as the hardest working band in Australian rock & roll, still cut the mustard in the unforgiving confines of the live environment?

The answer, surprisingly for many in attendance, was a resounding yes. ‘Pay Up or Shut Up’ opened the set, the song the perfect theme for the Hitmen’s return. Within a few moments of guitarists Chris Masuak and Tony Robertson turning the ignition on the Hitmen’s pub rock hotrod, it was 1980 all over again.

Lead singer Johnny Kannis was into the crowd within minutes, brandishing his microphone in the faces of anyone within a ten metre radius and showing no signs of the injuries that brought the Hitmen to a screaming halt almost 25 years ago. The set was riddled with hits and memories – ‘I Don’t Mind’, ‘Didn’t Tell the Man’ (surely one of the most underrated pop songs in Australian rock & roll history), ‘Bwana Devil’, ‘Everybody Knows’ – and the choice of cover versions (‘California Sun’, ‘Shake Some Action’ and a killer version of ‘L.A. Woman’) was enough to cause even the harshest critic to raise their beer in admiration.

As Kannis continued to taunt the crowd – to the enigmatic amusement of his bandmates – we were left wondering just why the Hitmen never achieved the success many thought was theirs for the taking. Just like Radio Birdman in 1996, this was a reunion that delivered more than it promised.

by Patrick Emery