Live Review: Mick Thomas & The Roving Commission, Halfway

Local country-rockers Halfway have already enjoyed a long and storied career, but with tangible buzz building around the impending release of their fourth album, Any Old Love, tonight's set is a celebration of the new, this seven-piece incarnation of the band reveling in the new material's strong writing and deft arrangements. The way that the languid Hard Life Loving You collapses into its haunting finale and the players latch onto the cruisy groove of the poignant Shakespeare Hotel showcase a band at the top of their game, and even though some old faves like Oscar make an appearance it's new numbers like Factory Rats and the super catchy Dulcify which dominate an excellent set.

There's a strong and festive crowd accumulated by the time Mick Thomas and his current crop of Roving Commissioners kick off with new recording Christmas Melody from brand new release Christmas Day At Spencer Street, the medley's two tracks dating back to the halcyon live days of Thomas' alma mater Weddings Parties Anything. Solo faves You Remind Me and Selling The Cool Car For You follow quickly – Mark “Squeezebox” Wally showing considerable keyboard skills to abet his usual accordion chops – before Thomas tugs heartstrings like an expert manipulator with New Moon Café and grabs the mandolin for jaunty Weds number Rambling Girl. We then head south to Tassie for a triumvirate of songs: the first two from Thomas' incredible convict stage exploration Vandemonian Lags – the powerful Two Grandfathers and Sex Hospital, the swinging garage number penned by local Ben Salter – augmented by an epic rendition of A Tale They Won't Believe, the perennial WPA live classic firing up the already invested throng even further. The ever-gorgeous Father's Day elicits an equally strong response before a fond introduction to Girl (At The Other Side Of The World) brings gravitas to proceedings, this feeling augmented immediately by Gallipoli Rosemary's intrinsically Aussie beauty and the melancholy inherent in relationship lament Step In, Step Out. Thomas revisits Our Sunshine – co-penned with Paul Kelly – before Weds gems Rain In My Heart and the iconic Away Away get the crowd singing heartily, the set proper concluding with a buoyant rendition of the jaunty The Cap Me Granda' Wore.

The spoken word title track from Christmas Day At Spencer Street reopens proceedings with some levity, before a glorious cover of The Triffids' Wide Open Road invokes communal national pride (and raucous crowd involvement). A rowdy Knockbacks In Halifax and Australian Flag Bikini finish off the encore before the band's coaxed back for the impossibly moving For A Short Time. Christmas wouldn't be the same without a serving of Mick Thomas, long may this glorious seasonal tradition continue.