Australian band InXS makes concert an event

The Toronto Star - Wednesday, February 12th 1986
By Greg Quill

Two years after its first tentative entry into the North American rock 'n' roll mainstream on the heels of its excellent Shabooh Shoobah and The String albums, Australian band InXS' (pronounced in excess) time has well and truely arrived.

The groups show at The Copa Monday night, their fourth here since 1983, and by far their most successful, was more than a concert, it was an event.
The leading lights in Toronto's musical community were there, along with about 1,200 fans flaunting every imaginable fashion brand, from pure haircuts to studded wristbands. And they all seemed to have just one thing to say. "This is my favourite Australian band."

Not that there's anything identifibly Australian about InXS, apart from singer Michael Hutchence's languid drawl and a certain cavalier off-handedness. "This is a song about smack (herion)," he said at one point. "But hey, do what you like. I just wrote a song about it."

No didgeridoos

There were no didgeridoos, no bull-roarers, not even a lager-phone to back up the prevailing impression that inXS' music is uniquely Antipodean.
It's not. it's good music, at times even great. But InXS,which, on its most recent album Listen Like Thieves, specialized in a fleshy pop-funkladen with bold, abrasive guitar and sax riffs, could just as easily represent New York or London as Sydney.

Monday night the band, augmented by a leather clad female singing back-up and hitting assorted objects, was clearly delighted at being able to perform at least for a capacity Toronto audience, one attuned to the rough and ready rock 'n' soul of its current hit "What You Need". Only "The One Thing", a middling-successful 1984 hit earned as much applause as material from the new album. Of that collection, "This Time" was particularily powerful.

Genuine passion

Actually, the entire performance was powerful - and satisfying. What InXS' lacks in originality it makes up for in genuine passion. Toronto bassist and campatriot Terry Wilkins pointed out during the show that because three brothers are the core of InXS - guitarist Tim, keyboardist Andrew and drums Jon Farriss - the unity of vision that's essential to a truly great rock band may have come a little more easily.

Another of the many Australians in the audience suggested the band reeked of honest bar-room sweat and thousands of dusty rock 'n' roll miles.What has finally brought InXS into its own anyone's guess. but one thing's for sure. Any band that can work the savage magic InXS did Monday night deserves its time in the sun.