Dirty Three / Laughing Clowns

Andy J Ryan Apr 26, 2023

The Dirty Three, Enmore Theatre, 26 January 2010

As a special Sydney Festival show the Dirty Three and the Laughing Clowns played a special Don’t Look Back concert.

A searing Australia Day meant for a sweltering Enmore Theatre for the Laughing Clowns, who, lead by the raucous guitar of Ed Kuepper and squalling saxophone of Louise Elliott up front, stoically presented their particularly twisted version of the History of Rock ’n’ Roll’ Vol. 1. Kuepper proclaiming cheekily “and the hits just keep on coming” before ‘Sometimes’ and prefacing ‘Ghost Beat’ with “now we are going to flip the record over and get into some really obscure songs”. He wasn’t really lying, music this intricate and innovative would always struggle to find wider acceptance.

Ocean Songs is a majestically languid and sprawling album that emerged from the Dirty Three at a fractious point in their history. Inter-band chaos and spiralling volume reached a breaking point and gave way to structure, and space, which surged into ten tracks that became their landmark work.

Live, counter pointing the restrained beauty of the songs is the manic, ever writhing form of violinist Warren Ellis. His suit jacket lasts about five seconds and he is soon requesting the mixer make him sound like Jim Morrison, and definitely not Jim Nabors. Ellis explained that yes, they were here to preset to us one of music’s most significant and important works, Supertramp’s Crime of the Century, here is ‘Dreamer’. Thankfully instead we were plunged into the lapping Ocean Song shallows with ‘Sirena’. “Does anyone have the record here? What’s next Jim?” inquired Ellis before the next volatile voyage into ‘The Restless Waves’.
While comparatively less visually arresting than Ellis, the staid presence of the transfixingly talented drumming of Jim White is something to behold. Now resembling Ron Jeremy, and equally adept at banging things, he is just the inscrutable anchor that holds these fascinating forays together. Music’s ultimate ‘straight man’ Mick Turner summons rushing rivulettes of riffs that gracefully wash across the swelling musical tides to create great crashing peaks of noise that loom and break as powerfully as waves onto the rocks. A front-lit stage and plain white screen sees the silhouetted figure of Ellis loom powerfully over the stage for the expansive ‘Authentic Celestial Music’, ‘Black Tide’ is dedicated to the late, great Rowland S. Howard and a near twenty-minute version of ‘Deep Waters’ is just monumental before the tide rolls back and we are left at the ‘Ends of the Earth’. Truly exceptional.