Touring their well-received third album Glitterbug, my favourite marsupial named band is in Australia to headline Byron Bay festy Splendour in the Grass. Typically, Perth sideshows have been more elusive than a good Michael Bay movie, but the Triple J stalwarts included a handful of extra dates to make sure their punchy live show was a good time had by all.
Blissed out Perth rockers Mt. Mountain opened the account with a half hour slot. Stepping in for Circa Waves, who will support the headliners for their East Coast dates, the five piece filled the venue with their big, drawn out sound. They enjoyed the exposure of a decent early turnout, but terse drums and building riffs didn’t stir many bodies so it was a muted affair.
The Liverpool indie rock three-piece that sauntered on stage around half nine last played Splendour in 2008, off the back of their debut album A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation.
Two albums later, they’re still working the endearing, convoluted, sentences of frontman Matthew Murphy (guitar, keyboard) into rhythmic bangers. Alternately lovesick and heartbroken, the seemingly teenage stream of consciousness of his musical persona centred on a relationship with a fictional woman from L.A. for album number three.
Backlit in hues of blue and gold, the polished performers dove straight in. Glitterbug’s lead track ‘Your Body Is A Weapon’ and absolute belter ‘Moving to New York’ (which somehow only just went silver in July?!) had the student aged crowd moving, shaking and roaring every lyric ***flawlessly.
[include_post id=”437668″] I didn’t originally buy the suitability of Metro City (it’s more of a rave cave) but without moving about the stage very much, they dominated it. The vivacious energy of their material did all the work, and felt like a more wholesome experience than that provided by their studio work.
As expected, ‘Greek Tragedy’, ‘Jump Into The Fog’ and the nostalgic ‘1996’ were especially well received, while the raw, slow ‘Little Miss Pipedream’ provided a much needed breath mid-set.
The set featured material from every album and was punctuated by birthday cakes for Murphy and bassist Tord Øverland Knudsen (also on guitar, keyboard), and the consequent banter made them seem pretty down to earth. Dan Haggis didn’t miss a beat as he cycled through drums, percussion and keyboard, and Knudsen clambered into the driver’s seat every time Murphy forewent eye contact with the crowd to sing into the middle distance. Both provided backing vocals.
‘Tokyo (Vampires and Werewolves)’ closed the main set, but they popped back out to end the night with animated fan favourites ‘Emoticons’ and ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’.
Check out the full gallery from the show here.
Upcoming Shows
Thursday, 23rd July 2015
Metro City, Perth*
Monday, 27th July 2015 – NEW VENUE
The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Tuesday, 28th July 2015 – NEW VENUE
Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne
Thursday, 30th July 2015
Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide
*Circa Waves not appearing
