Racing onstage to the stream of Tom Jones' "What's New PussyCat?" of all things, the Aussie band slammed into "Suicide Blonde," an archetypal InXS tune that barrels along on a simple riff, a deep groove, and a chorus that's little more than a slogan without a message.
That formula adds up to perfect arena rock. InXS's live show may be short on subtlety, but it packs an undeniable wallop.
Although Hutchence is the star of the show, the rest of the band deserves a lot of credit for figuring out how to compliment him. The tack is simple but effective: Make like one nig rhythm section.
Unlike most rock bands, InXS doesn't have any soloists to speak of. Instead, all five players pretty much sacrifice themselves to the beat. Along with the tandem of Garry Gary Beers on bass and Jon Farriss on drums, guitarist Tim Farriss and Kirk Pengilly stick to basics, pounding out the riffs that are generally the only thing that distinguishes one of InXS song from another. (Just try humming the chorus of What You Need or New Sensation or Need You Tonight). That leaves the keyboardist Andrew Farriss free to tart up the proceedings.
The only real surprise was the elaborate set. Desugned by the same guy who has concocted Prince's set-ups for the last decade, the stage was dominated by the staircase that extended from one side to behind the drum kit, and out the other side. It looked like it was made of blue marble cake, and Hutchence spent an awful lot of time running around on it. To excess? Maybe. But like the rest of the show, it worked.
Openingact Soup Dragons managed the rare feat of getting a standing ovation. Unfortunately, they got it by urging everyone to get out of their seats.
Once they got them on their feet, the band didn't know how to keep them there. Like InXS, the Soup Dragons are fronted by a colourful singer, in this case one Sean Dickson. Unlike Hutchence, however, Dickson tried a little too hard to get the crowd on his side. After a while his persistent cheerleading was distracting.