I've been a fan of the band since I heard "Between The Bridges" in 2000 and this is the first time I'd seen them live. Given their live reputation, I have to say they were excellent - the singing was great and the band played with a lot of passion and energy, breaking guitar and bass(!) strings in the process. A few of the new songs didn't quite hit the mark, maybe because of jetlag and responding to a poor crowd, but when the band did, they were awesome. The opening salvo of 4 of the best songs of "Never Hear..." were brilliant, and there were some real standouts from their back catalogue, in particular "Money City Maniacs" and "Sensory Deprivation". The latter was played almost reluctantly to appease someone in the crowd who kept shouting for it, but it was a fantastic performance of the song.

The set list (as best I can remember - some of the middle order songs may be out of order):
Flying High Again
Who Taught You To Live Like That?
Will I Belong
Ill Placed Trust
G Turns To D
The Lines You Amend
Fading Into Obscurity
Love Is All Around
Golden Eyes
Living With The Masses
Blackout
Money City Maniacs
C'mon C'mon (We're Gonna Get It Started)
Something's Wrong
Sensory Deprivation
I Can't Sleep
HFXNSHC
Someone I Can Be True With
Set In Motion
People Of The Sky
Before The End Of The Race
Losing California
Penpals
The Good In Everyone
Another Way I Could Do It

I Am The Cancer
If It Feels Good Do It

On the downside, something should be said about the crowd. The venue was really small, a basement cinema with sloping floor, but the crowd was very poor both in terms of size, maybe 100 or so, and the behaviour of some hecklers and idiots, which seemed to affect the band's attitude and performance at times. They were very professional about it and it must have seemed a hell of a come down after opening for The Police recently! In the Brisbane music press, much is made of bands bypassing it when touring Australia, and if this crowd is indicative of what touring bands can expect, then it's no wonder. Having said that, we are talking about a city where Pink has recently played 6 sold out arena shows, need I say anymore?

Still, I really enjoyed Sloan - They're a great band with a fantastically strong catalogue (I could have done with hearing more from "Pretty Together" and ANYthing from "Action Pact"), and glad that I've finally got to see them live.