alt-J, Snakadaktal, City Calm Down @ Festival Hall, Melbourne (30/07/2013)
The flowers in their hair, face bejewelled, top buttons done up, Aztec printed crowd eagerly awaited for one of Australia’s favourite rising Indie band to take the stage at the Festival Hall in Melbourne.
Experimental Electronic four piece, City Calm Down, where the first to grace the stage. Festival Hall already had a reasonable crowd and had everyone dancing in the pit, from the slow swaying packs of people or the crazy dancers on the side lines. Lead singer, Jack Bourke, had a deep mesmerising voice that enveloped the crowd. He pulled off the awkward/cute dancing that seemed to work well in the set.
The Melbourne up and comers did a solid performance, with track Pleasure & Consequence being the crowd favourite. The band finished off with one of their latest tracks, Dare, which was released 6 months ago. The friendly band left the stage, only leaving behind a warmed up and chatty crowd.
The main supporting band, Snakadaktal, have recently released a new album Sleep In The Water on the 2nd of August. The setlist was a mixture of the old and the new. The five piece kicked off with Stranger in the Ocean off their new album. The start proved that the band was going to give a good performance. Ghost, another new track, had the crowd swaying to the ambient and ghostly sound. The soft vocals from Phoebe Cockburn left an ethereal feeling in the air.
Sleep had a slow build up that went into a big finish that had the crowd dancing and screaming to their hearts content. One of their older tracks, Air, had everyone singing along to the well-known song. The last track, Dance Bear, was their finishing song. It definitely did not disappoint. The song, which grabbed a spot in the Triple J Hottest 100, was delivered brilliantly. While the band has a quiet and shy stage presence, they made up for it by their fantastic playing. The stellar set made sure people knew exactly why Alt-J wanted them as their supporting act.
The growing excitement was evident in everyone’s faces, the slow rumblings of the crowd eagerly awaited for the band they had come to see. The Mercury Prize Winning four piece walked onto stage to the loudly played Rack City which really set the mood. The band had an interesting set up on stage, with each member spread along the front of the stage in a line with a few metres between each other. They used the full power of the lighting that Festival Hall possessed, the graphics on the back screen resembled the front cover of their album and changed colour.
Alt-J kicked straight into the act when the screaming subsided. They, ironically, started off with Intro, also the starting track to their widely acclaimed album An Awesome Wave. Interlude I followed, with the crowd joining in with the pitch perfect acapella by lead singer and guitarist, Joe Newman, and keyboardist, Gus Unger-Hamilton. Tessellate, Something Good and Buffalo were played extremely well. The crowd were a little quieter when Buffalo was played with many not knowing the song. It was, however, able to grab a spot on the motion picture Silver Linings Playbook soundtrack.
Throughout the start of the set the band looked quite sombre, they slowly warmed up during Dissolve Me. Fitzpleasure was the next song to be played. The acapella had everyone singing along, the crowd were all on the tips of the feet waiting for the music part to start. As soon as the beat stared everyone, excuse the expression, “dropped it like it’s hot”. If anyone had remained standing and not danced they would have had a perfect view of the band, everyone dropped half a meter with the beat.
Kylie Minogue’s highly sensual song ‘Slow’ was covered by the band, with an Alt-J twist and Dre beats. The indie four piece have played the song worldwide and have been getting positive reception of their cover. Matilda, Bloodflood and MS were performed with fantastic instrumental skills. Breezeblocks was next, with the crowd realising that the set would soon be over and threw themselves into their dancing.
The people could not get enough of the band, which would explain why the Hall was suddenly shaking from the foot stomping and screaming for an encore after the band left the stage. Someone threw their hat on stage which was picked up and placed on Newman’s head. “I don’t usually wear hats, but I will for this song. Just for you.” This seemed to get a cheerful response from the front crowd.
A few short songs were played, with Hand-Made and a guitar solo calming the crowd. Even though everyone knew that the only song to be left to play was Taro. The rest of the band walked on stage and finished off the incredible set. Alt-J are truly a great band to see live, the only thing they could work on would be their stage presence. Other than that, the concert was a true showcase of their musical prowess.
Elizabeth Alderslade
Experimental Electronic four piece, City Calm Down, where the first to grace the stage. Festival Hall already had a reasonable crowd and had everyone dancing in the pit, from the slow swaying packs of people or the crazy dancers on the side lines. Lead singer, Jack Bourke, had a deep mesmerising voice that enveloped the crowd. He pulled off the awkward/cute dancing that seemed to work well in the set.
The Melbourne up and comers did a solid performance, with track Pleasure & Consequence being the crowd favourite. The band finished off with one of their latest tracks, Dare, which was released 6 months ago. The friendly band left the stage, only leaving behind a warmed up and chatty crowd.
The main supporting band, Snakadaktal, have recently released a new album Sleep In The Water on the 2nd of August. The setlist was a mixture of the old and the new. The five piece kicked off with Stranger in the Ocean off their new album. The start proved that the band was going to give a good performance. Ghost, another new track, had the crowd swaying to the ambient and ghostly sound. The soft vocals from Phoebe Cockburn left an ethereal feeling in the air.
Sleep had a slow build up that went into a big finish that had the crowd dancing and screaming to their hearts content. One of their older tracks, Air, had everyone singing along to the well-known song. The last track, Dance Bear, was their finishing song. It definitely did not disappoint. The song, which grabbed a spot in the Triple J Hottest 100, was delivered brilliantly. While the band has a quiet and shy stage presence, they made up for it by their fantastic playing. The stellar set made sure people knew exactly why Alt-J wanted them as their supporting act.
The growing excitement was evident in everyone’s faces, the slow rumblings of the crowd eagerly awaited for the band they had come to see. The Mercury Prize Winning four piece walked onto stage to the loudly played Rack City which really set the mood. The band had an interesting set up on stage, with each member spread along the front of the stage in a line with a few metres between each other. They used the full power of the lighting that Festival Hall possessed, the graphics on the back screen resembled the front cover of their album and changed colour.
Alt-J kicked straight into the act when the screaming subsided. They, ironically, started off with Intro, also the starting track to their widely acclaimed album An Awesome Wave. Interlude I followed, with the crowd joining in with the pitch perfect acapella by lead singer and guitarist, Joe Newman, and keyboardist, Gus Unger-Hamilton. Tessellate, Something Good and Buffalo were played extremely well. The crowd were a little quieter when Buffalo was played with many not knowing the song. It was, however, able to grab a spot on the motion picture Silver Linings Playbook soundtrack.
Throughout the start of the set the band looked quite sombre, they slowly warmed up during Dissolve Me. Fitzpleasure was the next song to be played. The acapella had everyone singing along, the crowd were all on the tips of the feet waiting for the music part to start. As soon as the beat stared everyone, excuse the expression, “dropped it like it’s hot”. If anyone had remained standing and not danced they would have had a perfect view of the band, everyone dropped half a meter with the beat.
Kylie Minogue’s highly sensual song ‘Slow’ was covered by the band, with an Alt-J twist and Dre beats. The indie four piece have played the song worldwide and have been getting positive reception of their cover. Matilda, Bloodflood and MS were performed with fantastic instrumental skills. Breezeblocks was next, with the crowd realising that the set would soon be over and threw themselves into their dancing.
The people could not get enough of the band, which would explain why the Hall was suddenly shaking from the foot stomping and screaming for an encore after the band left the stage. Someone threw their hat on stage which was picked up and placed on Newman’s head. “I don’t usually wear hats, but I will for this song. Just for you.” This seemed to get a cheerful response from the front crowd.
A few short songs were played, with Hand-Made and a guitar solo calming the crowd. Even though everyone knew that the only song to be left to play was Taro. The rest of the band walked on stage and finished off the incredible set. Alt-J are truly a great band to see live, the only thing they could work on would be their stage presence. Other than that, the concert was a true showcase of their musical prowess.
Elizabeth Alderslade