Tex's Cash on the money
CONCERT The Man in Black: The Johnny Cash Story
4 stars Regal Theatre
Review: Neale Prior
Watching The Man in Black was torture for a man whose youth was misspent watching rock'n'roll in Perth's inglorious beer barns.
The torture was not because this was a tribute show to the legendary country rocker Johnny Cash.
Nor was the torture the result of the performances by former Beasts of Bourbon and Cruel Sea frontman Tex Perkins, his co-star Rachel Tidd and his show band the Tennessee Four.
Rather the torture was from having to listen to such a stunningly rhythmic and well executed performance while confined to a stalls chair in a venue where booze is confined to a naughty corner upstairs.
Gigs this good are best enjoyed standing with drink in hand and stomping out of time, rather than chair dancing.
From the minute he walks onto stage and belted out the classic Walk The Line, Tex Perkins pulls in the punters with a voice every bit as deep and rich as Cash's.
The lanky performer's stage presence is amplified by a look that seems like a cross between Cash, Nick Cave and Wolfman Jack.
The Man in Black is part gig and part narrative on Cash's life as a "walking, talking contradiction": devout Christian who supped with the devil, patriotic American, protestor for the rights of prisoners and native Americans, a loving but absentee father.
Or, as Perkins jokes, he was a man who "believed in God and was on good terms with the devil".
A potted version of Cash's life story is told by Perkins as the man and Tidd as his second wife June Carter, Cash's musical collaborator and arguably the driver of some of his finest music.
They explain how the rhythms of the trains influenced Cash's music (he wrote 22 songs about trains), and how his adult life was marred by grief from the premature death of his brother Jacky in a sawmilling accident.
The narrative does not interfere with the music, rather it puts it into the context of Cash's life and times in such a way that adds a richness to what otherwise might be songs lost in musical history.
Perkins provides a stunning version of Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe and he lifts Tidd to musical heights with the duet Jackson.
After a solid and entertaining first half, the show fires up in the second half with a mock-up of the famous Folsom prison concert of January, 1968. Folsom Prison Blues is torture because it demanded some serious stomping.
Perkins brings out his finest comic timing for A Boy Named Sue. He then shows his full vocal and performance range with an entrancing version of The Beast in Me.
In fact, the show is at its best when it shows Cash's spiritual side.
While he could rock with the finest, Cash managed to put his demons into songs that could simultaneously convey the lures of heaven and hell.
Perkins, Tidd and the Tennessee Four demonstrated the transcendental power of music, melody and intricately executed harmonies with Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord).
Even this non-believer in country music and the literal truth of Bible stories could, for a few fleeting seconds, see the rock being pushed aside in Jesus' tomb and even grieve the Messiah's death.
Then I could see the grief that Cash faced at the loss of his brother and later at the loss of Carter, which Perkins drove home with the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt.
The mood was lost in some confusing narrative about the sequence of Cash's final albums and Carter's death.
Yet the music and a medley encore meant this weakness in the storyline was quickly forgotten and it was back to enjoying the impeccably executed music.
Oh, if only I had a middy of Swan Lager in my left hand it would have been a perfect night.
The Man in Black: The Johnny Cash Story runs until August 31.
