AFL Grand Final 2021: Birds of Tokyo, Baker Boy, Eskimo Joe, John Butler stun fans

The AFL Grand Final’s half-time act Birds of Tokyo divided fans, some of whom disagreed with their set list after the pre-match line-up. Have your say.

After a year on the sidelines, Australian music finally got to stand centrefield again in a stadium at the Big Dance.

Birds of Tokyo went peak rock opera for their headlining halftime performance for the 2021 AFL grand final.

Partnering with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, the chart-topping homegrown rock heroes shot for soaring pop rock anthems for their seven minute, three song set.

The stadium crowd set the scene with their sea of phone lights blinking in the blackened stadium, with Birds frontman Ian Kenny noting the always magical visual effect.

“Hey, those lights look beautiful my friends,” he said before kicking into their top three hit Lanterns, a song they played as part of the pre-match entertainment in 2013.

Birds or Tokyo perform during half time of the 2021 Toyota AFL Grand Final match. Picture: Getty

The band then joined the Aussie hit parade theme for the 2021 setlist with a mammoth orchestral version of Silverchair’s pop monster Straight Lines which divided online opinion on social media.

News Corp readers were also divided. Some loved the music acts but others questioned why the bands had to sing covers instead of their own music.

One reader wrote: “Birds of Tokyo made Meatloaf sound good.”

Another said: “The AFL can’t do ANYTHING right….” while others said the music line-up was “really good” and left them dancing in their lounge rooms.

Have your say in the comments below.

Birds of Tokyo, good way to murder silverchair #AFLGF

— Sam Wright (@SamWrightt4) September 25, 2021

Birds of Tokyo have so many good tracks. Why cover a Silverchair song from 2007? #AFLGF

— Natacha Maloon (@natachamaloon) September 25, 2021

Just watched the incredible @BIRDSOFTOKYO on the half time #AFLGF
Hope they tour to Sydney after we get out of lockdown, I’ll be there with bells on in front row !! So GOOD!

— Music Talks 💜 (@MusicTalks_xyz) September 25, 2021

Of course most of it was variations of “we want the ‘chair to get back together.”

Their finale was the aspirational rock ballad Unbreakable, dedicated to Australia’s frontline workers.

Birds of Tokyo and WASO perform at half time during the 2021 Toyota AFL Grand Final match between the Melbourne Demons and the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Getty

Birds of Tokyo and WASO perform at half time during the 2021 Toyota AFL Grand Final match between the Melbourne Demons and the Western Bulldogs. Picture: Getty

With borders closed to international acts, homegrown music was able to stand proud at one of the most coveted gigs every year, playing the AFL grand final.

Any lack of match fitness after being sidelined from the live stage for most of the pandemic was superseded by the heart and passion the players put into their moment.

It is the biggest gig of the year for any Australian artist, in front of more than 60,000 people in the stadium and three million watching from home.

The 2021 prematch entertainment began with the ancient music of the First Nations people booming out of the Perth stadium as the Welcome To Country was conducted by Dr Richard Walley.

AFL Grand Final’s Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs pre-match entertainment. Picture: Michael Klein

Via the video screens, the game’s honorary troubadour Mike Brady made a speedy tour around empty and iconic Melbourne locations to perform his annual medley of One Day In September and Up There Cazaly.

And then it was onto the Aussie Anthems line-up dominated by west coast artists and opened with the spectacular blast of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, a staple of sports broadcasts, played by guitar supremo Abbe May from on top of the stadium.

The action moved to centrefield with the performers stationed on a series of LED stages very socially distanced around the oval.

The quadruple threat of rapper, singer, dancer and didgeridoo player Baker Boy signalled the theme of the 2021 setlist.

The AFL Grand Final where Baker Boy performed during the pre match entertainment. Picture: Michael Klein

The 2019 Young Australian Of The Year pulled off a colourful pop moment when he mashed up Kylie Minogue’s irresistible earworm Can’t Get You Out Of My Head with his Yolngu indie pop hit Meditjin.

The grand final fusion theme continued with John Butler opening his set with his global guitar instrumental hit Ocean, which has more than 60 million views on YouTube.

He was joined by some heavy duty vocal assistance from The Waifs’ sisters Vikki Thorn and Donna Simpson, beloved WA indigenous folk duo Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse and indie pop festival fave Stella Donnelly for a potent rendition of the Icehouse anthem Great Southern Land which again blended First Nations language into its lyrics.

John Butler during the pre match entertainment. Picture: Michael Klein

Local rock heroes Eskimo Joe missed the obvious opportunity to switch up the lyrics to their biggest hit – Blue Fingernails, Red Wine would have covered off both grand final teams.

They segued into the INXS smash Kick, a song which has soundtracked a million sporting moments on television, with their passionate, camera-thirsty saxophonist owning that song.

Eskimo Joe during the pre match entertainment. Picture: Michael Klein

And then it was the all-in singalong of that other Aussie national song Down Under, introduced by its master Colin Hay of Men At Work from a Californian beach near his home.

It was a solid line-up of talent and song which had its obvious miming moments, an inevitable requirement of a quick turnaround of performances in a stadium.

On the 10th anniversary of Meatloaf’s disastrous grand final gig, the 2021 all Australian line-up got a general thumbs up from the couch commentators.