Enmore Theatre Feb 18, 2023
Live Review by Ian Jessup
February 21, 2023
I’ve loved many bands, and liked many more, but there’s only one band that makes my heart burst every time – The Sunnyboys.
And last night it burst for the final time live, at the Enmore Theatre.
Eleven years since the most unlikely reunion in perhaps all of pop music, Australia’s Fab Four called it curtains with a rousing, emotional farewell at one of Sydney’s iconic venues and where the Sunnies Mark II germinated.
From where we were (back, centre) the guitars were a bit too raspy. Didn’t matter.
The drums a bit too loud. Didn’t matter.
Jeremy Oxley’s voice just about broken. Didn’t matter.
The air conditioning rendered useless by the heat of the music, the crowd. Didn’t matter.
This was a 90-minute celebration of a great band, of the power of love, of what people CAN do while battling mental illness.
Fresh as a daisy (or a sunflower in this case) on the burgeoning local scene in 1980, the Sunnyboys quickly rocketed to the top with an intoxicating mix of mod looks, very danceable rock-pop and lyrics of teen longing.
They were a life raft of shy, male sensitivity bobbing in an ocean of hyper-masculinity at a time when AC/DC, The Angels, Midnight Oil, Rose Tattoo, Cold Chisel ruled the airwaves, the pubs and the charts.
Quick quiz: name a better Australian teenage love song than “Alone With You”
Alas, it all fell apart in just five years under the pressure of relentless touring and record company greed, with Jeremy – the singer, songwriter, lead guitarist – developing paranoid schizophrenia.
Almost 30 years were lost.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a widowed psych nurse arrived on the scene. Love bloomed, some of the onion layers peeled back, and reconciliation with brother and bass player Peter happened.
After just three rehearsals in April 2012 the surprise 30-minute comeback under a fake name at the Enmore among a two-day festival hosted by the Hoodoo Gurus.
I missed it but they sounded as good as ever, the crowd was in tears, and Jeremy smiled. But one thing was going to be different this time around – any further activity must have his health as a priority.
And so a decade of short local tours ensued, usually Jan-Feb each year, with the Gen Z crowd and occasional offspring ecstatic… and just so grateful.
I saw them 2013 at the Opera House where the word euphoria barely even begins to describe the tearful atmosphere, 2014 Enmore, 2015 Day on the Green, 2017 Enmore (only caught the last 20 minutes because Clare’s flight back from Germany was late), 2018 Factory Theatre, 2019 Dee Why RSL, 2020 Taronga Zoo and Opera House, 2023 Dee Why RSL and now finally the Enmore with more tears flowing.
In between, the Sunnyboys remastered some of their albums, released a few new tracks, sold loads of merch, won new fans, and we got to relive some wonderful if hazy memories of carefree uni days when the world was our oyster.
The San Miguel at Cammeray, The Governor’s Pleasure in the Rocks, the Trade Union Club in Surry Hills, the beer barns on the beaches. Ah, those were the days. Happiness everywhere.
Last night’s crowd included PM Anthony Albanese, the Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and hubby Mike; inner west denizens supporting the Sydney arts scene at its core.
And I finally got to show Clare my beautiful Sunnyboys.
In a fitting touch, the band members’ kids threw sunflowers into the crowd at the end of the show.
I’ve woken up exhausted, with ears still ringing, and a heavy heart. It’s hard to believe another of my favourites has said goodbye.
“At the start of each new day
You can feel the sun’s rays
It forces me to shed a tear
But crying doesn’t do no good”
Tomorrow Will Be Fine.
Set list here: https://www.setlist.fm/…/enmore-theatre-sydney…
