Victory lap for The Meanies

INDIE punk veterans, The Meanies, will be bringing their long-awaited Better Late Than Never tour to the Eastern this coming Saturday.

After numerous reschedules, the band will tour nationally in support of their Desperate Measures album, which released in 2020.

Although some of the songs have already been road-tested, frontman and guitarist, Link Meanie, said he’s itching to play more of the album to a live audience.

“There’s so much of it I want to play for people, whereas with most of our other records there’s three or four I’ll want to play, if that,” he said.

“It’s probably the best album we’ve ever made. I’ve never been as happy as I’ve been with this one. This is the first great album we’ve done.”

The tour comes hot off the Meanies opening for Foo Fighters earlier this month, which saw the rock icons take to Geelong’s GMBHA Stadium in one of the first international Australian shows in two years.

Having last played with Fooies head Dave Grohl when the band opened for Nirvana 30 years ago, Meanie called the gig a “quite surreal” experience.

“It was good advertising for the tour, that’s for sure,” he said.

“It was a nostalgia trip. We were definitely under-rehearsed, but we still managed to do a decent show.”

Although he is looking forward to “catching up with old heads,” Meanie said he hopes the album will be as well-received live as it was on the record.

“Playing the album live feels like a bit of a mystery, like going on a first date,” he said.

“I don’t know how I’m going to react to it because we’ve just had such a long gap of not playing it live ever.

“But to be honest, we play better live now better than we ever did back in the day. I’ve got a lot more in me now than I did even in my 20s.”

The Meanies will play at the Eastern at 7pm on Saturday, 26 March, and tickets will cost $34.70.