Live: Reunion World Tour Australia 2017 Brisbane Riverstage review

A FEW short years ago the band Live had been torn apart by personal and legal ructions, with frontman Ed Kowalczyk saying “It’s kind of hard, if not impossible, to come back from (that).” Yet there they were, “live” on stage last night.

Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk at the Riverstage in Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Steve Pohlner

IF EVER there was a testament to the restorative power of forgiveness, it was on full display in Brisbane last night.

A few short years ago the band Live had been torn apart by personal and legal ructions, with frontman Ed Kowalczyk telling Rolling Stone: “It’s kind of hard, if not impossible, to come back from (that).”

Yet here they were, “live” on stage Down Under again, with an extra drummer and guitarist for good measure.

“It’s like a hangover, a very long hangover, and we just came to,” Kowalczyk told the Riverstage audience.

“But it doesn’t f—- matter cos we’re all up here, the original lineup.”

The original Live lineup hit Brisbane’s Riverstage. Picture: AAP Image/Steve Pohlner

At another point he said: “It’s so great to be back in Australia with my beautiful brothers up here, I can’t tell you.”

And there was a group hug with the original guitarists when the band closed the show with their biggest hit, Lightning Crashes.

Brisbane boasted the first of only three dates on the Australian leg of the band’s Reunion World Tour.

And while the inner-city curfew meant the band were offstage well before 10pm, it didn’t stop some tough talk from Kowalczyk: “Let’s keep all those people in their hotel rooms up for another couple of hours!” he said earlier in the set.

Fans who were hoping the band would run the gamut of their back catalogue may have been disappointed, as they stuck to their first four out of seven albums (eight if you count 2014’s The Turn recorded without Kowalczyk).

Live at the Riverstage in Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Steve Pohlner

However this afforded the welcome opportunity for some non-singles to be performed, such as the rousing Pillar of Davidson and The Distance, which gave their New Orleans guest guitarist a chance to shine in the crankin’ instrumental break.

Unsurprisingly their breakthrough set Throwing Copper received the most attention, with six tracks performed. And White, Discussion provided a suitably frenzied end to the main set.

There were touching tributes too, with a Johnny Cash soundbite played before they covered I Walk the Line, and Chris Cornell’s portrait providing a backdrop for a cover of Audioslave’s I Am the Highway.

Live at the Riverstage in Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Steve Pohlner

“One of the many gifts given to us by the incomparable Chris Cornell!” Kowalczyk declared.

Requesting the audience break out their smartphones, the modern equivalent of the cigarette lighter, Kowalczyk gave his ears a break with a solo acoustic version of ballad Turn My Head.

Having “wrapped up” summer in the US recently, Kowalczyk said the band were on a “revolving door of summer”, having headed to the southern hemisphere to play South Africa and now Australia.

And he brandished a stuffed koala before relating the tale of how he used to cop stick over his surname, with fellow schoolkids branding him “Koala-czyk”.

“I think it was some kind of weird premonition in elementary school that I’d be coming to Australia - a lot!”

Live play Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, on Friday and Roche Estate, Hunter Valley, on Saturday

Setlist: All Over You, Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition), Pain Lies on the Riverside, The Dolphin’s Cry, Selling the Drama, I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash cover), Pillar of Davidson, The Distance, I Alone, Lakini’s Juice, White Discussion. Encore: Turn My Head (solo acoustic), Rattlesnake, Run to the Water, I Am the Highway (Audioslave cover), Lightning Crashes

Live plays the Brisbane Riverstage. Picture: AAP Image/Steve Pohlner