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The Go-Betweens, Paris, France

David Landgren 1996

I can still remember the day, Christmas time 1989, when Robert Forster and Grant McLennan put an end to their 10 year old group, The Go-Betweens. Together, they crafted some of the most beautiful pop songs and managed to go completely unnoticed by everyone except for a small group of loyal fans. In the space of a year, they put out two incredible albums Tallulah and 16 Lovers Lane and suddenly everyone started to pay attention.

The group had a new bassist and were rehearsing for a new album, when suddenly they lost their way. And so, the band did what very few bands have ever had the courage to do. They called it a day and left one of the most valuable and enduring legacies to pop music.

That’s the history. While not officially reformed, Robert and Grant’s friendship has remained strong enough for them to want to do a few gigs from time to time. They’ve done a couple of gigs in Australia over the last couple of months, and, perhaps as a token of appreciation to the French fans, they decided to play Le Palace in Paris.

The crowd was sitting around, waiting for the concert to begin, when the lights went out and a tall, lanky man in a lemon yellow linen suit and white shirt strode onto the stage, arms aloft, waving V for victory. Robert looked pretty much the troubadour he ever was, while Grant looked older. He’s losing hair and thickening around the waist; like a cross between Phil Collins and Frank Black. The crowd went wild.

I had seen them on a TV show the night before, and already knew that Lindy Morrison and Amanda Brown were not part of the group. It turns out that they have picked up two very competent musicians, Adele Pickvance on bass and Glenn Thompson on drums.

The songs chosen spanned the Go-Betweens’ entire career. It was heartening to see that the new members were familiar with all the material. It was also clear to see that they had a hell of a lot of fun, everyone laughing and winking. Everyone was miked for vocals, and they hit those killer harmonies that at times make singing Go-Betweens songs to oneself such a difficult proposition.

One of the spookier moments was the rendering of Bye-bye Pride early in the set, with Grant’s acoustic guitar ringing out the melody... but all I could hear was the ghost of Amanda Brown’s oboe, which makes the song so powerful on Tallulah. And I wondered if this wasn’t going to be a drag, but all up, it turned out that the group infused the songs with a life of their own, and deftly averted lapses into nostalgia.

Robert played the showman, talked to us, listened to the hecklers and handed out bottles of mineral water. He talked about how much they were influenced in the early days by The Mamas & The Papas, and they played This Girl, Black Girl, a definite tip o’ the hat to them. This was followed by a couple of other songs, including a glorious Dive For Your Memory.

After which, Robert announced that "it’s time to play a little bit of that music they call rock’n’roll", a let rip In The Core of a Flame. The following song Right Here was dedicated by Robert, aptly I thought, to absent friends, the previous members of the group: Lindy Morrison, Amanda Brown and Robert Vickers.

Robert introduced one song as recorded in France, with the assistance of one Jacques Loussier. I think he was expecting Jacques to be in the audience, but Jacques was not at the venue. This song, typical of Go-Betweens’ bitter-sweet sense of humour, was Draining the Pool for You, that is, "I got tired of...".

Later on, Robert said that all the band members would have to turn around and face each other, because the start of the next song was incredibly difficult and very hard to do well. Very free, free jazz. Maybe, maybe not, but the song turned out to be Spring Rain, the same song they did the night before on television. This was followed by the lovely Lee Remick and the set finished with Love Goes On.

The punters roared, whistled and clapped, and after a few minutes the group came back to perform Love Is A Sign and Was There Anything I Could Do?, and then disappeared again.

Everyone screamed and shouted a bit more, and this time only Robert and Grant returned. Grant picked up his acoustic guitar, and they launched into a perfect version of Cattle and Cane and a haunting Clouds. Unbelievably, thoroughly excellent. And then was it... or so the Go-Betweens thought.

The audience wouldn’t let them go that easily – shouting, clapping, and foot stomping, and then, success! – the four members returned back onto the stage.

Robert slipped off a shoe and threw it into the audience. Odd. He then took his other shoe, ripped off the sole (aha! which was already half detached), and threw both pieces into the audience. So, there are three Go-Betweens fans in the Paris region with Go-Betweens icons no doubt gracing their mantlepieces. Grant threw a laconic "only bought them two weeks ago" to the crowd, the only thing he said all night. Robert commented, "I just want some affection", and they launched into Karen. And this time, it was well and truly over.

To cap it all, Les Inrockuptibles, the premier French music weekly gave audience members a free 11-track CD featuring eight acoustic demos of material that wound up on 16 Lovers Lane. And, regarding the question as to whether you will see the Go-Betweens in your part of the world, I’m afraid I can’t answer that, but they did say that "they enjoy playing together." So who knows?