After a successful turn supporting Hungry Kids Of Hungary on their national tour, The Preatures barely had a moment to breathe before hitting the road once more on their own national tour to promote their single “Is This How You Feel”.
Making their way around Australia, with prior shows in Melbourne and Adelaide, it was Brisbane’s turn to get a taste of this exciting and talented five-piece from Sydney last Friday at The Hideaway in Fortitude Valley.
Joining The Preatures at the intimate and cozy Hideaway was Gold Coast rockers, The Ottomans. Blending psychedelic rock with a western tinge, the boys from The Ottomans set the mood for the night. Paying homage to The Doors and the late, great Lizard King, Jim Morrison, it was clear to see where the band’s influences lay. Even when chatting to the crowd, the lead singer had an incredibly distinctive swagger that was all too indicative of The Doors inimitable front man.
While their sound was something a little bit different, a little bit ethereal, and all around very pleasant, their set did tend to stray into familiar territory after some time. Around halfway, the songs had a tendency to blend into one another and start sounding similar.
The punters seemed to enjoy the show, but started to get restless towards the end. With a solid, interesting sound and a well thought out style, The Ottomans certainly bought something distinctive and enjoyable to The Hideaway.
The Preatures took the stage to a packed room and immediately blew minds. With an incredibly unique style, the gifted quintet went straight into pleasing the crowd. Moving swiftly from dancey up-tempo numbers, to slower, chilled out songs, to ballady sweetness, The Preatures successfully kept their set fresh and exciting while unpretentiously showcasing their musical chops. Playing some new, unheard songs (from their EP to be released this year), as well as crowd favourites, the bad moved from song to song without ever losing the punters interest.
One thing that kept the crowd enthralled was the way The Preatures switched vocals between front man Gideon Bensens masculine ballsiness and front woman Isabella Manfredis smooth and sexy femininity. Blending these two exceptional voices in surprisingly and exciting harmonies was a definite high point of the show. Backed by smooth, ever changing rhythms and infectious guitar, The Preatures delighted audiences with their raw and seamless talent.
Manfredis vocals were delightfully reminiscent of the wonderful Stevie Nicks, and lended themselves to the overall similarities to Fleetwood Mac, which are most certainly an influence of the Sydney-based band. From the rhythms, to the vocals, to the song styles, so much of what was exciting about The Preatures was their similarity to Fleetwood Mac, and their ability to bring that style into this century and modernizing it. Let’s just hope their offstage antics aren’t also reminiscent of the band.
With the ability to put on such a laid-back show, and still connect so intensely with the audience, the sydney band are exciting and different and modestly, enthrallingly talented. A mixture of svelte female vocals, overall machismo and infectious, transient beats,
The Preatures maintained their versatility without the set feeling messy, and managed to put on a hell of a show. Let’s hope it’s not too long between shows here in Brisbane.
