INXS' shock pay cheque for biggest gig
Just before INXS walked onstage to play a career-defining gig at London's famous Wembley Stadium, the six musicians were given shocking news by manager Chris Murphy.
The band's shrewd dealmaker had blown almost every cent of their 1.4 million pounds box office takings for the huge show in front of 74,000 fans on July 13, 1991; that's worth roughly $AU7 million in 2025.
'F**k! What am I in this business for? We're getting paid 1.4 million pounds for this gig tonight (and) I'm getting five grand. Five f**king grand. That'll pay my f**king champagne bill at the hotel,' frontman Michael Hutchence cheekily shared down the barrel of one of the many cameras shadowing the band backstage.
Murphy spent the band's pay cheque on those cameras, having enlisted renowned British film-maker David Mallet to capture INXS at the pinnacle of their live powers.
Never miss the latest entertainment news from Australia and around the world — download the news.com.au app direct to your phone.
Hutchence doing his floor work during the Wembley gig with Kirk Pengilly playing over him. Picture: Supplied.
Mallet was one of the hottest music video and concert film directors of the era with credits including David Bowie's classic music videos Ashes to Ashes and Let's Dance, AC/DC's Thunderstruck and Queen's I Want To Break Free.
All the sexy swagger and pulsating energy of that electrifying performance was preserved on the Live Baby Live concert film which has now been reimagined as INXS Live At Wembley, a behind-the-scenes look at the gig screening on Seven.
Jon Farriss and Kirk Pengilly recall that this gig was a triumphant middle finger to the notorious British music media who had brutally dismissed INXS - as they did every Australian band of the era - until they exploded onto the UK charts with the X album in 1990, the wake of their 1987 global smash Kick.
Hutchence and Garry Beers performing up front at Wembley Stadium in 1991. Picture: Supplied.
Five years before their mammoth Wembley gig, INXS had opened for Queen at the iconic venue and were pelted with bread and tomatoes. Who takes bread and tomatoes to a concert?
So the success of INXS, off the back of the hit single Suicide Blonde, was entirely fan-led.
'That tall poppy thing, I think we were one of the first bands to experience it on that level,' Farriss said. 'We taught ourselves to stay quiet about it, we just wouldn't talk about it.'
The critics may have hated them but the fans and their celebrity peers adored Hutchence, Jon, Andrew and Tim Farriss, Garry Gary Beers and Pengilly.
The guest list for the Wembley gig was between 2,000 and 3,000 people depending on who you ask.
Both Kylie Minogue and Helena Christensen, Hutchence's ex and next girlfriends, were backstage. So was Rolling Stones' then bassist Bill Wyman and members of Duran Duran.
'Yeah, I heard it was over 2,000, closer to 3,000 people,' Pengilly said. 'Apparently it was insane. I didn't know any of them. But, you know, it was London, (therefore), it was celebrities.'
Jon added: 'I was like Andrew, I was just hiding in the dressing room.'
When not onstage, Andrew Farriss hid in the band dressing room. Picture: Supplied.
One of the enduring myths about the Wembley gig is that Hutchence gave his friends - and a couple of band members - pills not of the prescription variety, with the instruction to take them on 'the fourth song' during the set which was The Stairs.
'It was the times,' Pengilly said diplomatically while confirming the myth but preferring not to name names.
Mood enhancers aside, the gig is a tour de force for the band. Watching it now, as more than 70,000 people bounce up and down in unison to New Sensation, reminds you why it remains one of the most powerful live music moments ever captured on film.
INXS was a global stadium band by the time they conquered London. Picture: Supplied
'What was beautiful about it is that it wasn't us going, 'Come on, everybody'. It just sort of happened,' Jon said. 'The whole thing was trippy and it was extremely emotional. It's hard to understand what a strange psychological transition it is leading up to the moment you walk on stage to then being on stage.'
INXS got their flowers recently when Never Tear Us Apart was he shock No.1 on the inaugural Triple J Hottest 100 Australian Songs of all time.
INXS take a bow after the epic gig. Picture: Supplied.
'Oh man, that was wow,' Farriss said. 'I was genuinely just speechless.
'It absolutely floored me and from that moment on when it was announced, I've never received so many texts and so many warm wishes and just beautiful messages from people I haven't spoken to or thought of for years and years and it's sort of brought us all back together.
'It's been amazing.'
INXS: Live At Wembley airs on Sunday from 8.50pm on Seven.
Originally published as Shock news INXS received just before historic 1991 Wembley gig
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More effective are the shots - some quick, some shot in near darkness or from a distance - where there's something scary that's not entirely or clearly seen. Even subtler are the closed doors that prick the imagination: what's going on behind them? But there are also the thumping shocks and gross-outs when things turn violent, which are also effectively staged. There's an unidentified child (Scarlett Sher) who tops and tails the film with voiceovers. They're atmospheric but the first, setting up the story, feels too long - more show, less tell might have worked a little better - while the last lacks the payoff that would give it real impact. Who is this kid, anyway? Minor nitpicks aside, this is highly recommended for those who feel like an intelligent horror movie aimed at an audience other than thrill-seeking teenagers. Weapons (MA15+, 128 minutes) 4 stars This is, we're told, a true story. One day at 2.17am in the town of Maybrook, all but one of the 18 children in the same primary school class got out of their beds at the same time, ran outside and disappeared. Writer-director Zach Cregger's Barbarian (2022) was a well-made, original and high-quality horror thriller. Now Cregger is back with Weapons, which has similar virtues. It's intelligent and skilfully crafted on a modest budget by Hollywood standards, reportedly $US38 million ($A58 million). There's more to the movie than violence and gore - though they're there - with a well created feeling of community and ordinary lives somewhat reminiscent of Stephen King (compliment intended). The film is labelled "a true story" by an unknown child in voiceover who sets up the action, making it seem like an urban legend is about to be told. Weapons unfolds as a series of interlocking chapters. Cregger does a good job at bringing to life a town rocked by a terrible event. 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More effective are the shots - some quick, some shot in near darkness or from a distance - where there's something scary that's not entirely or clearly seen. Even subtler are the closed doors that prick the imagination: what's going on behind them? But there are also the thumping shocks and gross-outs when things turn violent, which are also effectively staged. There's an unidentified child (Scarlett Sher) who tops and tails the film with voiceovers. They're atmospheric but the first, setting up the story, feels too long - more show, less tell might have worked a little better - while the last lacks the payoff that would give it real impact. Who is this kid, anyway? Minor nitpicks aside, this is highly recommended for those who feel like an intelligent horror movie aimed at an audience other than thrill-seeking teenagers.
