Reviewed on Saturday July 12
History will look kindly upon Something For Kate. It’s an indictment on the mainstream that for the entirety of their 20 years together, Paul Dempsey and co. have been consigned to the fringes when it comes to radio airplay and the like. Yet as Dempsey himself says in the short retrospective film that opens tonight’s anniversary celebrations, he thought the band would last “a handful of gigs”. Two decades on, and Something For Kate sound as necessary as ever.
The first half of the evening sees the Melbourne trio (with a little help from their friends) delve into a back catalogue of six albums and a pair of EPs, drawing a couple of songs from each in retrospective fashion. Even on their oldest tracks, there’s a striking immediacy; a sense of optimism in nostalgia that belies Dempsey’s persistent lamentations. Clint Hyndman drums with incredible urgency, while Stephanie Ashworth’s bass powers insistently over the more recent ‘The Kids Will Get The Money’. Elsewhere, welcome surprises include the rarely performed ‘Soundczech’ and ‘Beautiful Sharks’.
After a brief intermission, Dempsey returns alone on piano for ‘Back To You’. Then the singer welcomes a special guest in Sarah Blasko, whose contribution to ‘Deep Sea Divers’ stops the audience in its tracks. Here on in it’s a greatest hits set, with Pip Branson joining in for an uplifting ‘Déjà Vu’, and the crowd responding to ‘Monsters’ with an impromptu sing-along of ‘Happy Birthday’.
‘Working Against Me’ from the band’s 1997 debut Elsewhere For 8 Minutes closes the main set, and the encores – ‘Captain (Million Miles An Hour’ and ‘Pinstripe’ – come from that album as well. It’s a tribute from Dempsey, Ashworth and Hyndman to their devoted fan base, that’s for sure. But while history will look kindly upon Something For Kate, they’re not history just yet.
