Tim Rogers may miss the way he used to sing but his reunion with the Twin Set shows he’s lost none of his way with words, writes Harvey Rae.
Reviews/Music
Sharp wit soothes voice box blues
7 March 2023
- Reading time • 4 minutesMusic
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Tim Rogers & the Twin Set
Freo Social, 5 March 2023
“I miss you Timmy,” yells someone from the crowd. “I miss my voice, too,” You Am I frontman Tim Rogers quips back.
It’s the sort of knowing humour that saves Sunday night’s Twin Set reunion show after a shaky start. Rogers has clearly lost his voice; he knows it, we know it. He hasn’t lost his sharp wit, though, and his chemistry with former Weddings, Parties, Anything violinist Jen Anderson is on point throughout.
It’s been a long time between drinks, so much so that new song Left My Heart in a Country Church Hall is all about AA meetings in Albury-Wodonga.
The last time the Twin Set played Perth was the old Greenwich Bar below His Majesty’s Theatre in March 1999 (remember that place?). You Am I were at their peak and Rogers could do no wrong.
Perhaps the best moments are
when Anderson cuts
loose on the violin.
Twenty-four years later, he’s a little greyer and more weathered, with a patchwork career that includes as many solo records and theatre productions as world-conquering You Am I tours.
One thing that never changes is his absurdist sense of humour and clever turn of phrase. Get High, Support the Band is a rollicking new number that responds to 1999’s Hi, We’re the Support Band and both are hilarious highlights.
Many of the songs from new album Tines of Stars Unfurled act as sequels to their corresponding numbers from 1999’s ARIA Award-winning What Rhymes With Cars and Girls.
The Drink They Drained as I Drove Away responds to The Songs They Played as I Drove Away, and so on. The latter is the last track save for a cracking cover of Neil Young’s 1975 barnstormer Don’t Cry No Tears, which more than does justice to the original.
But perhaps the best moments are when Anderson cuts loose on the violin for some Warren Ellis-esque solos, none of which are better than on Up-A-Ways, a 1999 favourite that’s lost none of its country-flavoured charm.
By the time all that’s done with, we’ve all but forgotten about Rogers’ scratchy voice, and the reunion tour we didn’t know we needed has been a resounding success.
Pictured top: Tim Rogers & the Twinset bring the reunion tour we didn’t know we needed. Photo supplied
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