Mick Thomas - The Borderline, London

Fantastic show from my buddy Mick Thomas at The Borderline. Mick makes fairly regular trips to Europe, but this was the first time accompanied by piano accordion player Mark "Squeezebox" Wally - and it made a massive difference. The accordion is so entrenched in Mick's early recordings with Weddings, Parties, Anything - that it just makes the songs sound full and right.

Kicking off with a couple from his just released CD 'The Last of The Tourists', it was really by early single "Away Away" that the duo hit their straps.

Back in Australia, Mick has been doing a few smaller shows he calls 'Song Bingo' where if your number gets called you get to request any song Mick wrote and the band will attempt to play it. This has resulted in some very deep digging into the back catalogue and I suspect is responsible for a few of the more obscure inclusions tonight night "The Ballad of Peggy and Col", "The Swans Return" and "Taylor Square" (although I believe the latter was a special request for a fan whose daughter just passed her A levels and had a stuffed toy called Taylor).
New single "DVD and a New Tattoo" was a corker, as was Phillip "Swill" Odgers from The Men They Couldn't Hang who was in fantastic voice for guest lead vocals on "Industrial Town" (covered by The Men on 'The Domino Club').
A pretty aggressive curfew only left time for one quick encore of fan favourites "Father's Day", "The Rain In My Heart" and "For A Short Time"


My Mother's Guitar
All the Roads
Away Away
The Ballad of Peggy and Col
Taylor Square
Gallipoli Rosemary
The Swans Return
Lonely Goth
Record Launch
DVD and a New Tattoo
You Remind Me
Star-O
Industrial Town (with Swill Odgers)
Our Sunshine
A Tale They Won't Believe
The Last of the Tourists
Encore:
Father's Day
The Rain in My Heart
For a Short Time