LIVE REVIEW: Airbourne @ O2 Academy, Birmingham
It’s been six years since AIRBOURNE broke more than a few musical bones on Boneshaker, which saw them swap their Australian lagers for Tennessee whisky in a swift shift to country rock. Last year’s single, Gutsy, however, gave line dancing the cold shoulder, cracked open a cold one, and saw AC/DC’s rightful heirs return. Tonight at the O2 Academy Birmingham, it’s their opening number, but is it proof they’re Back In The Game?
Before the main event however, with ASOMVEL‘s Ralph Robinson hospitalised, tour openers AVALANCHE are handed extra stage time for their UK debut, arriving just weeks after releasing debut album Armed To The Teeth. They bound on stage like AIRBOURNE’s scrappier younger cousins, and frontman Stephen Campbell leans into that comparison hard. He’s a firecracker; stripping off shirts, making out with guitarist-wife Veronica like they’re metal’s answer to FLEETWOOD MAC, and dropping the C-word with the casual confidence of a man who’s never heard of a watershed. Watching AVALANCHE is like riding a rock and rollercoaster to hell and back.
But it’s a Tuesday night in Birmingham, the room’s a third full, and not everything lands. Rage-baiting a half-interested crowd into a non-existent circle pit just to beat the French minutes in feels premature, and their pub rock massacre of MEN AT WORK’s Down Under is a decision best left unexamined.
Luckily, the highs win out. Going For Broke, Armed To The Teeth, and Dad, I Joined A Rock N’ Roll Band are riotous pub rock anthems that deserve a rowdier room and a headline slot to match.
Rating: 7/10
AIRBOURNE have never been an album’s band. You don’t sit at home on a Saturday night with your headphones on contemplating the meaning of Cradle To The Grave; instead, you hop on a stranger’s shoulder and catch as many coldies as frontman Joel O’Keeffe can throw your way. TL;DR: they’re a band you have to witness live to appreciate.
Not only do these Aussies know how to party, they know how to pick a setlist to get one started. As nearly three quarters of tonight’s set come from 2007’s Runnin’ Wild or 2013’s Black Dog Barking, it’s clear AIRBOURNE have one objective in mind: to squeeze as many anthems about beer, partying, and rock and roll into an hour as possible. Few bands could muster up a five-song run as outrageously strong as Cradle To The Grave, Hungry, Back In The Game, Raise The Flag, and Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women so early in their set, yet Airbourne drop it like a Guitar Hero songpack ready for all the air guitar-shredding, sing-alongs Birmingham can give them.
The O2 Academy’s 3,009-capacity main room might not be packed in like a tin of sardines, but O’Keefe, bassist Justin Street, drummer Ryan O’Keeffe, and guitarist Brett Tyrrell play like they’re selling out the Utilita Arena down the road. Joel O’Keeffe is up to his usual antics, smashing beer cans open with his skull and spraying the sycophant-like crowd whilst shredding his way through Raise The Flag on the shoulders of a roadie. But he’s also taking a stand too, calling out the local council for “closing down The Crown” (the pub where BLACK SABBATH played their first gig) and bemoaning the government for “destroying our venues”.
Another ridiculous run of songs risks a few too many sore throats and soaked t-shirts, as Diamond In The Rough, Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast, Breakin’ Out Of Hell and Live It Up close the main set. By the time O’Keeffe struts off stage with all the schoolboy pomp of Angus Young, there’s not a single soul in the room who isn’t begging for ‘one more song’.
Ready To Rock and Runnin’ Wild is one hell of an encore to bow out to, but after an hour of hard rock hijinks from AC/DC’s heirs, one thing is for sure: Airbourne are 100% back in the game.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Birmingham from Sabrina Ramdoyal Photography here:
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