The first time this reviewer saw Airbourne live, it was not exactly impressive. Indeed, the Australians didn’t have the best conditions to open for Iron Maiden: muddled sound, almost inaudible vocals and tracks sped up to the point of being unrecognisable even to trained ears.
Even without a new album, it was a treat to see Airbourne headlining again, especially at home. The band had never played in Grenoble before and it was certainly one of the smallest venues on their tour: two factors that easily explain why tickets sold out in less than a week and the presence of disillusioned faces still wandering the steps of the venue in search of a precious ticket, minutes before the beginning of the show.
ASOMVEL
A solid band who’ve been touring the world for a while now, Asomvel’s set was a little gift for Airbourne fans, who had been waiting impatiently for the headliner. The British band may not be reinventing the Rock’N Roll wheel, but their enthusiasm was infectious and a pleasure to watch.
The singer-bassist fancies himself a reincarnation of Lemmy, both in voice and style, and it worked quite well. The band opened with their latest hit “Louder&Louder”. Memorable tracks also included “Beware the Full Moon”, “World Shaker”, which sounds very much like good old fashion Motorhead, and their anthem “The Nightmare Ain’t Over”. The only downside to their set was a lack of sound clarity from the pit and a very dark stage.
Airbourne
As usual, to the theme from Terminator 2, the band burst onto the stage at a breakneck pace. The stage was much brighter than for Asomvel’s set.
Joel O’Keeffe sounded as raucous as ever but didn’t seem vocally exhausted until the very end of the show. The sound was this time very good and the backing vocals of his bandmates were solid. The setlist wasn’t long and that’s perhaps the only regret. Airbourne don’t play prog and they could have squeezed a few more songs into their set.
Joel O’Keeffe’s role as the wild frontman is still spot on and he was constantly interacting with the crowd, so it didn’t take long before the first pints were poured over the heads of the audience.
The first two tracks, “Ready To Rock” and “Too Much Too Young Too Fast” already saw crowd surfers enjoying themselves in the front rows (while some guys from the security teams were ready, you had to wonder if some of them had been briefed about the band and what to expect).
The Airbourne machine is well-oiled, and while you might deplore a lack of originality, the band remains devilishly effective. “It’s All for Rock N’ Roll” and “Stand up for Rock N’ Roll” gave the frontman a chance to wander around the crowd before treating the front rows to the Lemmy mini-bar. Everyone will probably remember a pretty impressive catch of a pint mid-flight by a member of the audience standing on one of the balconies. As it was the band’s first time here, the frontman took the time to rave about French wine and the landscape. (But, Grenoble’s wine isn’t great, but the inhabitants compensate with the Chartreuse, and if Airbourne missed this local moonshine, they’ll definitely have to come back!)
There were no surprises in terms of the setlist, but no one could complain and the crowd roared for the last few songs, especially ‘Live It Up’ where the vocalist struggled a little.
At the end of the concert, the crowd was ecstatic and full of hope that Airbourne would not forget to stop in Grenoble on their tour in support of their next album.
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