Aussie favourites The Living End returned to Sydney this weekend for the inaugural night of Twilight At Taronga – a concert series delivering acts by some of Australia’s greatest performers, all the while with unbeatable views of Sydney Harbour. Getting down to the amphitheatre involved a serene walk through Taronga Zoo, passing koalas and capybaras as excitement loomed for the night ahead.
A duo of traditional aboriginal performers delivered the acknowledgement of country and a fantastic didgeridoo act before undertaking a fire ceremony for us. It was a great way to cleanse our minds, pass on some great cultural knowledge and set off the night on a high note.
As the last of the audience members found the best spots for their seats, Sydney five-piece Dead Witch took to the stage with a girl-power fuelled energy that instantly invigorated the crowd. Vocalist Jaimee Taylor-Nielsen was sporting an orange jumpsuit and a tambourine, akin to Stevie Nicks, as the band broke out into some rock and roll tunes. “I saw The Living End play many years ago, so this is a huge deal for us” – the girls were psyched to be performing and the spirit certainly resonated throughout the amphitheatre.
Having recently released their debut EP Dead Witch, they had plenty of new material for us, playing original tracks ‘La Nina’ & ‘Starfucker’, before performing an incredible cover of AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’. The chemistry between the band members created an atmosphere that had old and new fans herding down to the mosh pit to dance and jump around.
As the sun was setting over the harbour and bats were flying throughout the sky, The Living End emerged to an excited audience, opening with their track ‘Til The End’ before amping things up with a crowd favourite ‘Second Solution’ as double bassist Scott performed his classic stunt of climbing onto his instrument while playing. The audience was vastly diverse, from older adults, to punks, to little kids that were basking in the high-powered ambience of the band with their hand-horns in the air. One lucky little rocker on his dad’s shoulders was even passed a guitar pick from Chris on stage as a commemoration of being such a good sport.
It was hard to stay seated for the set, as many fans found themselves down in the standing area for a boogie. Chris exclaimed to the crowd “block your ears kids – this next song is about a prostitute”, and as we all chuckled, everyone began singing along to ‘Pictures in the Mirror’ and fan favourite All Torn Down’. We then got an impressive cover of ‘Waltzing Matilda’, and with the Sydney skyline in the background, it felt very patriarchal to be witnessing the evening that was unfolding. To top it off, Chris began playing guitar using his full VB bottle as a slide. The crowd went wild as he sprayed what was left of it over the audience. “Every band has a gimmick… I thought ours was the double bass”, he said as we all laughed. The night became quite a comedy show.
Next up, the band played ‘Drop The Needle’ off of their latest album Wunderbar. “It’s important to play new songs…and it’s important to play old songs” said Chris, as they broke out into a classic track ‘Bloody Mary’. With a great selection of tracks from their entire discography, we even got a rare performance of ‘Wake Up’ off the band’s fourth album State of Emergency. This had the die hard fans applauding and shouting along. Following with ‘White Noise’, the crowd was in full voice, singing every single word.
As the boys left the stage, the audience did not stop chanting for an encore – and they delivered, giving us ‘Who’s Gonna Save Us’ & ‘Prisoner of Society’ – by now the stars were out over the city – a perfect bookend to the night.
As the audience trickled out of the venue, many conversations could be heard about how great the night had been. From the unbeatable scenery, to the energetic acts, they all helped Save The Day and left us wanting more of what Twilight At Taronga has to offer this season.
Remaining tickets to the great range of ongoing performances for Twilight At Taronga 2023 can be found here: https://twilightattaronga.org.au/
(Review & Photographs by Meg Taylor)
