When Black Rebel Motorcycle Club arrive in Australia for their Under The Southern Stars dates from March 11, they will be performing for the first time since 2019.
“We played in Greece in 2019 and that was the last show,” Robert Levon Been tells Noise11.com. “Since then this will be the first time we’ve got back on the horse. Everyone has the dithers. I’ve seen a few friends of mine play shows and that’s all they talk about. It’s not until you are told you are not allowed to play that you start counting the minutes and the hours. Have I still got it, can I remember the songs and how they go. We had a good couple of rehearsals where it all came back bizarrely quickly. Some sentiments of the memory are still in tack”.
At that last show in Greece, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club opened the set with their very first single ‘Red Eyes and Tears’. “We were toying around with starting where we left off playing at Under The Southern Stars, but I don’t know. We also change our mind a lot. We’ll see”.
Robert is still deciding the Under The Southern Stars setlist. “Festivals require pulling out all the stops for the time you are given,” he says. “You are maybe not the band the people came out to see or they are in the buffet line. Also there are people standing in a field waiting for one thing or another. It changes how you relate, going to a club show where they know every song and b-side. You approach it differently. For festivals, go in hot and leave them wanting something more. We’ve also done the exact opposite, depending on the mood. That’s usually the mindset but we’ve also had this stanky, who gives a shit attitude and done slow, dirgey ballads just because it re-empowers you sense of what you are doing this. I knew know which is going to feel better so we leave it up to chance.
Under The Southern Stars features Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with Cheap Trick, Stone Temple Pilots, Bush, Rose Tattoo and Electric Mary. The tour starts 11 March 2022 in Maitland, New South Wales.
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