Live Review : The Southern River Band + The Clan @ The Tivoli, Buckley on June 14th 2025

The Tivoli’s 100th birthday celebrations continue with a bit of a coup. Billed as “For One Night Only” this show is, as the name suggests, The Southern River Band’s only UK date outside of their appearance at Download Festival so it was a privilege to be able to go along and be a part of it. 

First though we have Tiv regulars and providers of the backline The Clan to entertain us. Despite the loss of their long-standing bass player recently (RIP Steve) they still rock up to give us a set of solid, dependable pub rock. Racoon tails bobbing, they work through a handful of songs that borrow from the days of NWOBHM and beyond. Making full use of the big fans at the front of the stage they pound out their brand of old school classic rock. It’s not new, it’s not exciting but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. Heads nod and toes tap as the crowd gives them a warm welcome and soon picks up their vibe and runs with it. The Clan are not going to set the world on fire any time soon, but for original good-time heavy rock they are pretty hard to beat.  

The Southern River Band on the other hand are much more of an Experience, with a capital E. They bound onto the stage with all the enthusiasm of a boxful of the cutest puppies, and proceed to spend the next hour or so melting our faces and lifting our hearts with their typical Australian good-time party rock. When a band has a song called ‘Fuck You, Pay Me’ (played mid-set tonight) you just know they are going to be – as they say in their homeland - balls out and no bull.

Most of the set is lifted from their 2024 album “D.I.Y” and is performed with so much gusto that singer and guitarist Cal busts two strings on two different guitars and is curtailed from doing his usual out-in-the-crowd walkabout during the epic ‘Stan Qualen’ because the guitar he ends up playing has a fixed lead that ties him to the stage. Despite this the energy level on stage is frantic, and this is communicated to the crowd who take advantage and have a damn good boogie from start to finish.  

They are currently working on a new album for release in September, and give us a taster of what to expect with ‘Watch Yourself (You’re Going To Hurt Somebody)’ which is an instant earworm with a bawl-along chorus and a bouncy, Volbeat-inspired feel to it. The energy throughout is indomitable, they have brought the Aussie sunshine and we are loving every second of it. The party continues, the songs sound catchy and simple but actually have more depth and power the closer you listen to them.

Being Australian there is of course a distinct whiff of AC/DC in the air, but this band take those easy beats and make them their own rather than just blindly copy them, so in the end the songs are “a bit like” rather than “the same as”. Cal comes down onto the barrier to commune with his people and when they leave the stage those people bay for more, more. The band duly oblige, returning to knock a couple of extras out of the park and finishing in fine style with ‘Vice City II’ (having already aired ‘Vice City III’ earlier in the set). It’s a powerful performance, mixing just the right amount of grittiness with a proper party attitude, and for those of us not able to attend Download this year it was amazing to see them tear up the Tivoli stage like they were born to it.  

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
The Southern River Band + The Clan