Live Review: Rodriguez & The Break

Here's the joke (spoiler alert!): Mickey and Minnie Mouse are in marriage counselling and the counsellor says, “Mickey, you can't divorce Minnie because she's stupid.” Mickey says, “She's not stupid, she's fucking Goofy!” Rodriguez knows how to make the best impression on his audience.

As what could only be defined as one of the ultimate 'supergroups', The Break was made up of Midnight Oil's Rob Hirst, Jim Moginie and Martin Rotsey, Violent Femmes' Brian Ritchie and Hunters and Collectors' Jack Howard. Donning excellent orange and white astronaut jumpsuits, The Break played a set that could have come straight from a movie soundtrack. The men walked out to the sounds of monk-like chanting and images, and fell right into a Western track with cowboys and guns a-blazing in the background. Sharp drumming punctured every song while hummingbird hands worked the guitar pieces. Western turned extraterrestrial sounds and surf rock, with a complex and perfect rendition of The Surfaris' Wipe Out.

The man known as Rodriguez/Sixto/Jesus/Sixth Prince was once again brought to worldwide attention as the subject of Academy Award winner, Searching For Sugar Man. While the rest of the world has lagged behind, Rodriguez has been known to Australia for quite some time, having sold out his previous sideshows with Bluesfest in 2010.

Getting on at 70 years, Rodriguez was assisted up to the microphone while stagehands organised his guitar for him. In spite of this, he needed no help with the set. His voice has not decayed with the years and sounds almost as strong as 40 years ago, while his swift-fingered guitar-playing is fascinating to watch. With The Break in tow as a backing band, tracks like To Whom It May Concern and Rich Folks Hoax were given the edge they needed with strong instrumental work. Meanwhile, bluesier tracks broke up the pace nicely with deep slow trumpet and light piano. After ticking Sugar Man and I Wonder off the list, he finished the set with a homage to Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone, and sounded more like Dylan than the man himself does anymore.

A couple of times in the set, Rodriguez and the band were out of time with one another and the drumming would become inexplicably loud, but it was hard to tell who had made the error. This was irrelevant because he had the audience in the palm of his hand from the moment they bought tickets. Rodriguez seems to have a soft spot for Australia, remarking that the last time he had as much fun was when he was here previously. Complimentary heckling was also a mainstay of the night, with the ever-humble Rodriguez forever replying, “Thank you, you're drunk but I love you too.”