It’s been close to a month since The Corner has been this packed on a Sunday night (indeed it’ll be another month before it’s filled to capacity again) but the sold out crowd is overcoming the pre-Monday Blues to enjoy a set from “that band who wrote ‘Is This How You Feel?’” – otherwise known as The Preatures.
The Sydney five-piece are hardly a one-hit wonder but let’s face it, there’s no ignoring the velocity with which their breakout single propelled them to the world stage, which is from where they’re now returning; tonight being the second date of their homecoming national tour.
So what’s the secret to their success? Well, the answer ambles on-stage, decked in what is becoming her customary live outfit: all-white attire offsetting her dark hair and lipstick.
Yes, there’s four other bandmates onstage producing some tight musical shapes – and full kudos to them – but it’s impossible to discuss what makes The Preatures so potent without focusing on talented lead singer (and occasional keyboardist) Isabella ‘Izzi’ Manfredi.
“Hello Melbourne,” she greets the crowd and moments into their loping opening number – all snaking mid-tempo thump and glam rock guitar slashes – she’s shaking her raven mane to the flash of coloured lights and hissing lyrics.
Focussing on Manfredi for ‘Is This How You Feel?’ is the wisest career move The Preatures could’ve made, so it makes sense that their live show now prioritises her latent rockstar magnetism, which invites plenty of cross-pollination comparisons (the love child of Debbie Harry and Mick Jagger? PJ Harvey and Julian Casablancas, perhaps?). However, she’s starting to eke out a stage persona that’s all her own.
When not pogoing excitedly or cheerily sharing the mic with her bandmates (and boyfriend/guitarist/producer Jack Moffit), she’s locking a steely gaze onto the audience – often one individual, sometimes singing a whole verse unwaveringly at them.
There’s little posturing or theatrics here, just a focussed determination that’s utterly alluring yet intimidating all at once. Just like her vocals.
Half-sneer, half come-on, she growls phrases that should be seductive (and vice versa); when she snarls “I’m gonna get you alone” (on second number ‘Manic Baby) it sounds at once like a threat and a welcome invitation.
The follow-up, ‘Whatever You Want’, is even more bracing, like a pub rock version of Motown where Manfredi spits her lines in call and response with the smoother, flanking male voices, cleverly inverting the typical ‘male leader/trio of backing females’ archetype.
But just as things are starting to warm up, Manfredi instructs that “it’s time to take the tempo down” in order to play “old stuff” – wheeling out ‘Threat’ (one of the first songs they wrote, as she points out) and ‘Pale Rider’, from 2012’s Shaking Hands EP
This one-two of slower, atmospheric numbers proves to be a misstep in the evening’s momentum. Not that there’s anything inherently bad about the quintet’s older material – it’s an appealing crossover of Spaghetti Western tone and Fleetwood Mac – but to put it bluntly, there’s a reason these songs didn’t catapult The Preatures into the limelight sooner.
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Newest single, ‘Two Tone Melody’ doesn’t do much for the ailing mood and growing swarm at the bar either. It shows the band’s full range (and gentler side – lounging in organ and Manfredi’s poignant purr), but tagged on the end of the two preceding unhurried songs stunts the setlist further.
Luckily along comes the bluesy greased lightning of ‘Dark Times’ to rescue the pace, complete with the velvety singing of guitarist Gideon Benson, relishing his chance to take lead.
Manfredi wrangles back centre-stage with the Blondie-meets-U2 sing-along ‘Better Than It Ever Could Be’ (that borrows from The Edge’s playbook of skyscraper guitar licks). It’s a muscular highlight and not just for familiarity. Speaking of which, along comes three new songs from their forthcoming first full-length album, due in “six weeks. Maybe,” they tease.
The first, ‘Cruel’, is rich in 80s pop DNA; a snap and shuffle like ‘Footloose’ replete with a lyric about kicking shoes off and throwing them in the lake. Next is ‘Somebody’s Talking’ drenched in circular blues riffs that wind to a big, radio-grabbing chorus, prompting Izzi to pull out a couple of handstands (clearly rehearsed but still full points for glamour). ‘Ordinary’ employs a looped drum machine pattern and the syncopated line of “she keeps on running” over punchy chordal shifts.
“Are you ready to dance badly?” Manfredi quizzes, chiding the Sunday night audience for their lacklustre response before rolling out the inevitable set-closer.
In the flesh, ‘Is This How You Feel?’ still oozes with charisma, style, and a cutting sense of sleek pop nous with Manfredi as its diamond tip. It’s nothing less than a stone cold, career-making hit. And everybody agrees – songwriting judges, Govt funding bodies, Hottest 100 voters, and obviously by the frenzied reaction: tonight’s audience.
Afterwards, many make a swift exit before the five members have even finished setting down their instruments, let alone before the quintet return for the encore of ‘Take A Card’, a blue collar rock stomp that The River-era Springsteen would be jealous of.
Then it’s all over, the 50-ish minute performance erring slightly towards the ‘that’s it!?’ scale of gig satisfaction than the ‘leave them wanting more’ end of the spectrum. Mainly because a lukewarm mid-section faults a show that otherwise has all the makings of a killer set.
Tonight’s show might’ve needed a little bit more spit and polish to truly shine, but there’s no denying The Preatures’ star quality. They’ve got the looks, the hooks, and in Manfredi a rare kind of genuine hero-in-waiting potential – all ensuring there’s more than enough to warrant the kind of rave reviews that The Preatures’ international trail has left in its wake.
Don’t be surprised if you start seeing many more lighting up their pathway in the very near future.
Setlist:
New Song
Manic Baby
Whatever You Want
Threat
Pale Rider
Two Tone Melody
Dark Times
Better Than It Ever Could Be
Cruel
Somebody’s Talking
Ordinary
Is This How You Feel?
Encore:
Take A Card
