Devonport RSL Club

I would've given the show 5 stars if I'd been able to hear it all. Sitting up the back made it difficult to hear due to the people who obviously weren't there for the music and talked loudly throughout the whole gig. I saw the Black Stump Band at the Thornbury Theatre a few months ago and loved it, as everyone was respectful of the artists on stage, unlike at the RSL.

Ticket said start 5, but Tim wasn’t on till 8:30! There was no explanation on ticket nor when we arrived at 5.

Beyond the Black Stump, there is Deliverance and beyond that - Devonport... In a nod to the local Returned Servicemens League emerging from the mists of pokies misery, it was perhaps a bridge too far that the sated, seated audience would know the Whitlams repertoire or, indeed, recognise it westernised. The hits got the cheers, the crowd never saw the misses but highlights included the original Kate Kelly, a stark unorchestrated new single; a seering rendition of Randy Newman's Last Night I had a Dream, show casing Ollie's slide guitar and the seldom seen American Grotesque. Charlie 1 and 2 and the haunting Always Keep the Light On (Charlie 2.5) but Tim steered the sing list away from home town city hommages, instead offering a surprising but beautiful piano driven offering to Warren Zevon with Empty Hearted Town - eerily apt for Devonport.