“Being” is set at an old cinema, which I immediately recognised as the Crystal Palace in Mount Eden, the star of Dead End Beat’s porny “All My Riches” video. But things are a lot more G-rated with Opshop.
While Opshop are performing on stage in the present, we get flashbacks of the theatre in previous decades, bits of the 1940s and 1950s. You can tell it’s the 1940s because a solider and a lady with hair rolls are doing swing dancing in the foyer, which is what people did in the ’40s.
But historical inaccuracies aside, the thing that bothers me the most is the really unflattering t-shirt that Jason Kerrison is wearing. It’s a solid red t-shirt that just hangs off him and makes his head look tiny. With all the extras in the video wearing quality historical costumes, it’s a shame that the same styling wasn’t applied to the present day.
The video ends with the ghost of a magician’s assistant leaving a bouquet of flowers on stage, no doubt to say thank you to Opshop for lyrics such as “And we don’t wanna go to war again!”
While the song and the video are both pretty boring, it still feels like another step towards the mighty Opshop of the late ’00s and their two number one albums.
Best bit: the tableau of an American-style 1950s, straight outta Mount Eden.
Director: Adam Jones
Next… a dark and stormy night.