With the imminent release of their forthcoming album "Animal Lovers", The Residents decided against presenting any new material, instead fashioning a unique concert tour for their loyal Australian fans. This show would be in celebration of the 20 th anniversary of the band's 13 th Anniversary Tour; the last time the troupe had considered their anti-fame, hoisted their sails and cast off for the shores of the great southern land.

The Residents 33rd Anniversary show traveled to several capital cities, including Brisbane, Sydney and two shows in Melbourne at the Forum Theatre (both of which your humble narrator attended). Despite slight variations in the setlist, both shows ran confidently through the entire Residential catalogue, reaping the very pastures their loyal fans had been grazing since their last visit. Opening with a montage – or perhaps more accurately a "suite" – of early material, classics such as Lizard Lady, Smelly tongues, Easter woman and Red rider where delivered in seamless fashion. Several suites filled out the set, one song running into each other until reaching an appropriate crescendo; the audience forced to withdraw their applause until the end of each chapter, which featured anywhere between three and eight songs. Although the set-list covered the Residents' “classic” material, a modern reworking of each piece gave the concert a consistent, ambient register. Surprisingly, a number of Snakefinger tunes infiltrated the set, including Picnic in the jungle, Golden Goat, Eva's warning (the name Eva replaced with Bathsheba) and The Spot.

Three "musical" Residents created the aural atmosphere from one side of the stage, while two "singing" Residents (one male, one female) shared vocal duties, sporting troll-like masks - the kind of which fans have become accustomed to in the last few years, and have appeared on video releases such as the Golden Goat DVD. (One on-looker described the female singing Resident as a bizarre talking pigeon from Mars.) The three “musical” Residents wore eyeballs masks, Melbourne newspapers quoting Homer Flynn as confirming these were a nostalgic token adopted purely for this special occasion.

The stage production included various light displays and video projections, illuminating several adjustable screens, arranged as required by an initially inconspicuous "stage-hand" character – whose personal narrative progressed from the position of roadie, to prop, to a participant in the scenarios unfolding on stage. The portable screens illustrated physically the emotional plains of songs like Mahogany Wood and, as the finale to the main set, the wonderfully freudian car-wreck of a song Betty's Body. A silhouette of the unattainable, and considerably buxom, Betty was thrown illusively onto the screens for the audience to appreciate, her shadowy image torn from the antagonist's psyche, much to his anguish.

After a mercifully short encore break, the Residents returned to the stage to deliver two further songs, Teddy Bear and the brilliant Ship of Fools – a fitting conclusion to the retrospective, the song itself indicative of the band's style and a profound statement of their overall perspective and philosophy. With the curtain falling on their 90-minute set the Residents celebrate their 33rd year of obscurity before limping back to the cultural tossed-salad that is the US; to create new aural experiences; to lead us doubtfully into untamed frontiers and feed our desire for their particular brand of courageous decadence.

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Setlist included:-
Lizard Lady
Smelly tongues
Easter woman
Die in terror
Picnic in the jungle
Red rider
Amber
Would we be alive?
Coming of the crow
The Spot
Golden goat
Hello Skinny
Jack, the boneless boy
Their early years
Mahogany Wood
Burn baby burn
Mr Wonderful
Betty's Body
[encore]
Teddy bear
Ship of fools

Note: Other sources have suggested the following tracks in addition to those listed here -- Santa Dog (instrumental), Mr Misery, They are the flesh, etc...