It is a bizarre feeling when you go to a show to see a band and walk away raving only about the support act. To that mind, Karl Wallinger's World Party blew Steely Dan off stage last night at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena.
Wallinger has been out of action for some years following an aneurysm in 2000 but has returned from the health scare a healthy man.Due to the support role at the Steely Dan show, his setlist was limited to just over 30 minutes, but in that time, he managed to belt out the songs you knew and the songs you knew but didn't know where his.
'She's The One' was a major hit for Robbie Williams. Wallinger wrote it and originally released it on the 1997 World Party album 'Egyptology'.
From 1987's 'Private Revolution' he threw 'Ship of Fools' three songs into his set and opened with 1990's 'Put The Message In The Box' from 'Goodbye Jumbo'.
I witnessed a full World Party set in a pub environment last year at SxSW in Austin. Michael Gudinski's Frontier Touring Company needs to snap Wallinger up for headline World Party tour of Australia ASAP. This is what a great live show is all about.
