Eskimo Joe to open State of Origin at Optus Stadium

Eskimo Joe are big-game players.

When they step on stage at Optus Stadium for the pre-match show at Perth’s inaugural NRL State of Origin game on June 23, the Fremantle trio will draw on experience.

The former No.1 ticket holders for the Fremantle Dockers played the 2011 NRL grand final to nearly 82,000 people at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.

Frontman Kav Temperley says that performance in the midst of a national tour felt like a blur.

“It was only afterwards that we realised there were flame-throwers and full-on dance routines going on around us,” he laughed. “We were just concentrating on trying to play well.”

Eskimo Joe has also played a Friday night match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the 2011 AFL finals.

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Still, there must be some nerves as Temperley and co. gear up to perform 2006 hit Black Fingernails, Red Wine live for a national TV audience likely to exceed three million viewers, plus singles Sarah and From the Sea for 55,000-plus fans in the stadium.

“I’m not sure what pressure it puts on us — it just gives us inspiration,” says the 40-year-old, who married pilates instructor Beth Ivers in April.

“It’s no average, everyday gig.”

Temperley said the winners of eight ARIA Awards were “absolutely stoked” to be playing at the most-watched sporting event annually “in our very own State of Origin”.

The rocker said that with a track called Sydney Song on their 2001 debut album Girl, he had to barrack for the Blues. After six albums culminating in 2013’s Wastelands, Temperley and band mates Stuart MacLeod and Joel Quartermain put Eskimo Joe on the backburner.

Quartermain and his partner, PR guru Sarah Turnbull, welcomed a daughter in March.

Last month, the popular band got match-fit to play the Origin with gigs in Fremantle and Port Douglas, at which they performed 2006 quadruple platinum album Black Fingernails, Red Wine in full.

Eskimo Joe’s concert at Freo.Social sold out quickly, with the band resisting the urge to add extra dates.

Temperley said the shows were about “honouring an album that we put so much time and energy into, and playing it start to finish. We’d never done that before ... it was so much fun”.

“We really appreciate that people still like and support the band,” he added, “and the songs that we’ve written 15 years ago, people are still singing along to.”

The singer and bass guitarist revealed that Eskimo Joe were “ramping up” for a return to recording and national touring in 2020.

“We’re finally stepping out of our sabbatical and back into our Eskies pants again.”