The Drones
Forum Theatre, Melbourne

Here’s a sad story. I went to see The Drones on Saturday night and left disappointed. I think quite a few others felt the same. Maybe The Drones were spooked playing a massive joint like the Forum for the first time under their own steam. Perhaps the homecoming of sorts turned into an off night? For long-time fans, seeing the Drones headline the Forum was a peculiar and slightly bizarre experience shared around. Being told where and where not to stand by humourless security persons, for example, is a long and winding road from gigs of old at the Tote or Espy front bar.

All this aside, a reprise of Havilah’s first two tunes, ‘Nail It Down’ and ‘The Minotaur’ were a good way to start things off, though Mike Noga’s drums immediately sounded overpowering in the mix, muffling the guitars and becoming a nuisance during the quieter tunes, particularly ‘I Am The Supercargo’. Another nuisance was the disco-ish lightshow. The Drones’ music is powerful and exciting enough without flashing purple lights all over the place. Fiona Kitschin had the right idea, keeping her bass in the shadows and her back to the audience for most of the set.

‘Six Ways To Sunday’ as a mid-set choice was fine, but not the best pick of their early material. For its length, it became a restless lull. But then that’s The Drones challenging their audience (although not nearly enough tonight) as on ‘Oh My’, its rousing chorus (yep, another rousing chorus) had the room howling along to a song about a man’s ruin typified by the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Oh my indeed.

There were only brief moments when things seemed to mesh and the magic appeared, mostly when Gareth and Dan Luscombe were locked in the duelling chaos of ‘I Don’t Ever [ever, ever] Want To Change’. Speaking of Mr Luscombe, am I the only one who thought he looked like he wanted Gareth’s job? For his part Gareth kept banter to a minimum, introducing the band to each other (“Mike, this is Dan. Hi Fi, I’m Gaz”), and returning to the stage for an encore with a charming “that was the longest piss”.

‘Your Acting’s Like It’s The End Of The World’ was a nice note to end on, the line “I’m still worried ‘bout my first big night/ As the curtains fall/ The roof collapses” had particular credence. And maybe that was it: the roof didn’t collapse, the intimacy was lost and there was no spark. That isn’t to say the Drones sucked on Saturday night, just that I expected to get something in my eye and never came close.

by Troy D Colvin