After weeks of controversy, Blondie and Alice Cooper finally play to Sydney crowd

PANDEMONIUM
Cathy Freeman Park, Sydney Olympic Park, April 25
★★★★

“Welcome to the show!” snarls the ghoulish headliner in the top hat, looking like (new) Wonka’s grandfather having a Halloween party with Johnny Depp’s fan club, the largely guitar-shredding band all pirate bandannas, leather strides and rock-star posing.

Alice Cooper performs at Pandemonium on Thursday.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Alice Cooper will go on to hit all his spectacular stage marks: impaling a paparazzo during Hey Stoopid, wearing a live snake for Snakebite, dodging what looks like a giant, papier-mache-headed Marilyn Manson during Feed My Frankenstein, and ultimately getting decapitated with a guillotine before his wife, dressed like Marie Antoinette, brandishes his severed head like Perseus’ final insult to Medusa.

But the show to which we were so belatedly welcomed – Pandemonium – had already hit many more memorable marks before that.

Indeed, you might argue the all-day event’s very existence was the most impressive. There had been an unsavoury glee in certain quarters at its potential downfall long before Cooper had dusted off his stage-sized magician’s kit.

Some of that stemmed from the event’s organisation, in the form of the confusion and perceived subterfuge as to who would even turn up to play it, due to factors including underwhelming ticket sales – Deep Purple, Placebo and the Dead Kennedys were among those who withdrew, resulting in the show taking place on one stage, rather than across two.

The crowd at Pandemonium, Homebush on Thursday.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Then there was the inevitable distaste, call it snobbery, regarding a line-up of bands past their prime cashing in on limited success (but dammit, Wheatus, it was worth the wait for Teenage Dirtbag – perhaps the single best, beautifully drawn-out performance of a single song all day).

So, the fact that the show went on, and gave the nearly 6000 who showed up an enormously enjoyable public holiday off, was something of an appropriate f--- you to all the doubters and haters.

It was a bit like the good old days of festivals: like-minded music fans amiably milling around on a glorious autumn afternoon, drinking from overpriced cans and smoking their variously pungent materials.

Wolfmother turned it on and turned it up early in the day for a blast, in every sense, through the furious Sabbath riffs of Woman, White Stripes rip-off Apple Tree and more metallic bangers than you might remember them having. With a demonic glint in his eye, main man Andrew Stockdale even played a bit of White Unicorn for the young woman in the crowd dressed, as you do, as a white unicorn. Legends, the both of them.

The crowd certainly gave a damn about Wheatus.Credit: Edwina Pickles

Then came the inevitable wait for Teenage Dirtbag, starting with Wheatus’ aptly titled, knowingly chosen Temporary Song. But their set of New York indie-ish rock passed quickly enough, thanks to Brendan B. Brown’s adorable nerd-charm, plus a cute Aussie detour into Kookaburra during Leroy.

Brown played a magnificent trump card, during a break in the song we’d all stopped by to hear, of pulling on the bucket hat he wore in its video in time for the heroic, loser-gets-the-girl final verse.

These various flavours of rock book-ending the show gave way to various electrifying shades of new wave in the Psychedelic Furs’ set alone.

Backed by sweet synth lines, howling guitar and thrillingly precise drums, founding Butler brothers Richard (vocals) and Tim (bass) came off like London’s answer to the Cars, with anthems for the John Hughes generation (Pretty in Pink, obviously, but most of the others also fit the profile), to boot.

Psychedelic Furs bring the 1980s film anthem vibe. Credit: Edwina Pickles

But it was the high priestess of, well, not just new wave but where pop first seduced punk rock, too, who could have stolen the show without singing a line.

Admittedly, Debbie Harry struggled with some of them, but that didn’t really matter. Her charisma and iconic presence alone still make her a NYC superheroine, while her band, Blondie, had more proper hits than anyone else all day.

Powered by her only other OG Blondie cohort Clem Burke, typically breathtaking on drums, and a ring-in from the frickin’ Sex Pistols on bass (respect to you, Glen Matlock) – with some younger folk bringing the melodies on guitars and keytars – Harry was a delight, whether pulling off the rap in Rapture or riding the irresistible twanging riff of Atomic.

The high priestess appears: Blondie performs at Pandemonium in Homebush.Credit: Edwina Pickles

So, by the time we got to that man called Alice, whose songs rarely lived up to the supreme stagecraft (maybe Poison and, go on then, School’s Out, with its brief segue into fellow teacher-baiting anthem Another Brick in the Wall), we’d had a pretty hearty fill.

Sensational effort, Pandemonium.

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