LIVE REVIEW: TISM + SHOCK VALUE @ THE FORTITUDE MUSIC HALL BRISBANE 17/10/26

Words by Cecilia Pattison-Levi

Well, a This Is Serious Mum (TISM) gig in Brisbane. What could ‘possibli’ go wrong? After the shenanigans at the Opera House, I was wondering what else the band could do or break here at the Fortitude Valley Music Hall and whether this would increase the price of my membership?

In the end, the gig was a mostly refined or feral (vantage point is everything here) evening of contradictory farce based in 1970s soft rock, with TISM dressed in golden and silver lamé suits and the crowd singing along to a guest band playing ‘Mandy’ by Barry Manilow.

The TISM No Mistakes Tour had kicked off in the Valley and it was a night to remember, with added Bee Gees and ‘Y.M.C.A.’ disco vibes.

The night commenced with a high-energy punk and rock-and-roll band from Brisbane, Shock Value. The band played a nine-song set that launched with force in ‘Iron Fist’ as lead singer George Roberts dove around the stage and completed multiple forward rolls. The pace changed for ‘Blood Clotting’ as it was a big rock track, and then drummer George Newsham blasted away on his kit for ‘Rich Bitch’.

I have to say that the drummer and lead guitarist Isaac Comrie were just fantastic as they took control of Shock Value’s musicality while the rest of the band descended into chaos, with an added tambourine-jingling percussive attack. The band’s songs were based in rock, and the blues stomper of ‘Call On Me’ was delivered with a ruckus. It was followed by ‘Murder Police’ and ‘Ain’t Your Bitch’.

Shock Value delivered the frenetic ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll’ and ‘Rocket Machine’. It was a nice touch for the six-piece band to close out their set with Rose Tattoo’s ‘Bad Boy for Love’, with more forward rolls and a stage dive that must have hurt. It was a very unpredictable live performance, but the band did their job and warmed up the crowd.

As the stage was cleared, a setlist was procured, and the crowd raced to get water or drinks from the bar quickly. As the lights dimmed, the PA began to blare out parts of songs that were late 1980s TISM favourites. The younger crowd tried to start a chant of “TISM are wankers”, but the older fans let them know: wrong part of the show to do this. Then the guest cover band walked out onto the stage.

The guest cover band were awesome. There was a lead guitarist, a synth player, a bassist and three backing singers who were dressed in dazzling gold sequined suits and dresses, playing soft rock 1970s classics. Music fans were treated to Barry Manilow, covers of Roberta Flack’s ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’, the Bee Gees’ ‘How Deep Is Your Love?’, Daryl Hall & John Oates’ ‘You Make My Dreams’ and Kenny Loggins’ ‘Footloose’, to name a few songs.

Then TISM walked onto the stage wearing matching gold and silver lamé sequined outfits, took over and delivered their songs. However, the guest band didn’t leave. Instead, they stayed on stage and continued playing their own entire show directly behind TISM for the duration of the gig, before eventually playing along with TISM for the last few songs such as ‘Greg! The Stop Sign!!’, ‘I’m Interested in Apathy’, ‘(He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River’ and, of course, the very funny cover of the Village People’s ‘Y.M.C.A.’ and then the finale.

Once you worked out that there were dual performances going on here, the juxtaposition of the music TISM probably listen to (as most of the band members Ron Hitler-Barassi, Humphrey B. Flaubert, Jock Cheese, Eugene de la Hot Croix Bun, Vladimir Lenin-McCartney, Les Miserables and Jon St. Peenis are in their 60s), as opposed to TISM’s songs, diatribes and undergraduate humour, was deliciously funny.

I have to say that the members of the guest band were brilliant. How they managed to hold it together and sing through Shania Twain’s ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!’ and Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘September’ with straight faces as TISM pranced about on stage with their profane and satirical songs is beyond me. Let alone their view of the crowd and what that feral yelling back at TISM must have looked and felt like. It would have cowed lesser souls.

TISM, after their stage takeover, commenced their set with ‘I Drive A Truck’, before we hit peak poetry with ‘Mistah Eliot – He Wanker’ and then the tea towels were flying with Russian folk dancing as they performed ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Hate’. The social commentary about the state of the country and world had started early.

TISM took us highbrow with ‘Existentialtism’, then lowbrow with ‘70s Football’ and then to no-brow geekdom with the incredibly funny ode to the ‘All Ordinaries Index’, with newspapers over their heads. Does anyone read physical newspapers anymore? There was a philosophical section about the nature of existence with ‘Life Kills’, the importance of cricket to the Australian male with ‘Lillee Caught Dilley Bowled Milli Vanilli’ and then why males, especially adolescent boys, are so hopeless with ‘All Homeboys Are Dickheads’.

Then the crowd settled down for a rest and “advice from Ron”. Ron Hitler-Barassi delivered a scathing piece of performance poetry that captured the whole crowd, including the people on the mezzanine and those right at the back of the venue, who all cheered in unison when he finished his piece.

TISM were, by this stage of the gig, pouring water over themselves to cool down. It’s hot in Brisbane and those costumes, well, hardly appropriate wear for the tropics. I hoped none of them would suffer heart attacks as they looked knackered by the warmth, but they continued to dance, stage dive, crowd surf, walk around at the barrier and in the crowd, and did all manner of insane stuff they usually do (if you know, you know).

Then songs were sung about not getting off the train and dealing with the Seekers sample in ‘Mourningtown Ride’, fights were imagined in ‘I’ll ’ave Ya’ and the chant of ‘Death Death Death’ was so cheery. The moshing started to go off with the non-OG TISM fans when we hit the big hits from TISM’s debut album Great Truckin’ Songs of the Renaissance and their third studio album Machiavelli and the Four Seasons, with ‘Greg! The Stop Sign!!’, ‘I’m Interested in Apathy’ and ‘(He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River’ interwoven. There were crowd surfers, mostly of a certain age, who probably should have known better but looked so proud of themselves. The guest band had abandoned their set and were now fully involved in TISM’s performance.

TISM covered ‘Y.M.C.A.’ with actions and total disdain. It was a real winner! Then the last song of the regulation set arrived, with the band’s debut single ‘Defecate On My Face’ being unleashed. The band finished the song and then everyone walked off stage.

The guest band came back out onto the stage quickly and started their encore with ‘My Man’s Band’s T-Shirt’ when a member of TISM’s crew picked a fight with them. The back of the crew member’s shirt proclaimed that “There is no I in TISM” as he wrangled the sweary guest band off stage quickly.

Then it was back to old-school TISM, with just the seven-piece band bringing their didactic Brechtian performance to life. They started their encore with the obvious ‘Old Skool TISM’. It was followed by the Recovery show classic ‘Whatareya?’, with aerobic moves, and then a blow-up kangaroo arrived on stage to help deliver the final song of ‘Give Up for Australia’. It was gold, gold, gold!

Suddenly, the set was over. The crowd was left hot and sweaty, and those of us at the front requested setlists politely. However, it descended into a scene like seagulls on chips.

TISM must be experienced live. Their performances are unique and are gigs crowds and fans will always remember, and their performances need to be seen and engaged with to be believed. For the songs and situations they ask fans to accept are contradictory: profound and profane, personal and political, and so much damn fun.

What an excellent night!