The Wombats, Faker, Owl Eyes @ The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney (14/10/11)
Our opening act for the evening’s events would be Owl Eyes, the musical project of Melbourne singer-songwriter Brooke Addamo. Her whimsical dreamy indie-pop isn’t necessarily what one would expect to suit as a support act for our headliners. However Owl Eyes’ onstage energetic presence and occasional dabbling in electro elements and kitsch instruments like a glockenspiel were enough to warm her to the all ages crowd.
Her lilting and soothing vocals on ‘Faces’ become a contrast when she cracks out her boppy and urgent ‘Dancer’ and prances about on the stage asking us “won’t you come and dance with me?”. Her cover of Foster The People’s ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ which featured on Triple J’s ‘Like A Version’ got the crowd very excited and she brings such a unique ethereal light feel to the song. As she rounds her set out with her own single ‘Raiders’ her saccharine sweet vocals come to the fore and far outstrip the rest of the instruments onstage.
It’s been a little while since we’ve seen the boys from Faker, regardless that they’ve been away from the live scene they still know how to put on a cracking performance. They decided on sticking with a hit-heavy set and only showcased a couple of brand new tracks including the current single ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Hearts To Break’ both of which have a more electronic and synthesised feel compared to their other material. Thankfully though tracks like ‘Are You Magnetic’ and ‘Sleepwalking’ had enough punch in them to get the crowd bouncing, with a heavy bass and kick drum driving the beat.
Nathan Hudson uses his distinct vocals to his advantage on ‘Hurricane’ which had all of us singing “ooh la la la” and throwing and waving our arms around like a hurricane. But the song of their set went to ‘This Heart Attack’ which had the largest part of the audience shouting along to the chorus and setting the moshpit into a rabid jumping frenzy before the headliners had even made a peep.
As the house lights dim down, The Wombats launched into the opening track of ‘This Modern Glitch’ with ‘Our Perfect Disease’. The advantage of this song is that the verses are quite slow and build up to a thumping chorus but there’s hardly a chance to catch your breath when the English lads fire off ‘Kill The Director’ and the crowd starts writhing like an electrical surge has pulsated through each body. The energy of those both onstage and offstage only begins to slow when the loud ringing of the moog signals it’s time for ‘Jump Into The Fog’.
The lighting then turns a devilish sexy red as Matthew Murphy proceeds to serenade us about ‘Patricia The Stripper’ a love-lorn tale about falling in love with a prostitute. The light show continues to raise the bar when during ‘Techno Fan’ we’re treated to a ridiculously intense laser show, that almost seamlessly matches the rhythm of the music and the cute vocal harmonies added by fellow band members Dan Haggis and Tord Øverland-Knudsen.
The boys then once again turn the tempo back up as well as the angst with ‘Moving To New York’ and ‘My First Wedding’ back to back. The interesting thing is that from a musical point of view The Wombats are fun and energetic. Listening to their lyrics though, you get a sense of them speaking about emotional torment and a very real anxiety that anybody can relate to. The laser light show returns for the main set closer ‘Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)’ and the synth electro beats gets the crowd hopping again.
We’re treated to a three song encore easing us in with ‘Anti-D’ but then closing the entire show with their massive hit ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ and overall I was surprised that they almost played every song from their catalogue of two very solid albums. There seems to be a running theme with The Wombats’ songs as they often make reference to a lot of dancing with ‘Backfire At The Disco’, ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ all of which incite the listener to dance and flail wildly. But the best way to describe The Wombats is that they’re a bunch of lads who like to make music that’s fun to dance to but definitely challenges your thinking if you pay attention.
Carina Nilma
Check out our photos from the Adelaide performance here!
This Modern Glitch is out now
Her lilting and soothing vocals on ‘Faces’ become a contrast when she cracks out her boppy and urgent ‘Dancer’ and prances about on the stage asking us “won’t you come and dance with me?”. Her cover of Foster The People’s ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ which featured on Triple J’s ‘Like A Version’ got the crowd very excited and she brings such a unique ethereal light feel to the song. As she rounds her set out with her own single ‘Raiders’ her saccharine sweet vocals come to the fore and far outstrip the rest of the instruments onstage.
It’s been a little while since we’ve seen the boys from Faker, regardless that they’ve been away from the live scene they still know how to put on a cracking performance. They decided on sticking with a hit-heavy set and only showcased a couple of brand new tracks including the current single ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Hearts To Break’ both of which have a more electronic and synthesised feel compared to their other material. Thankfully though tracks like ‘Are You Magnetic’ and ‘Sleepwalking’ had enough punch in them to get the crowd bouncing, with a heavy bass and kick drum driving the beat.
Nathan Hudson uses his distinct vocals to his advantage on ‘Hurricane’ which had all of us singing “ooh la la la” and throwing and waving our arms around like a hurricane. But the song of their set went to ‘This Heart Attack’ which had the largest part of the audience shouting along to the chorus and setting the moshpit into a rabid jumping frenzy before the headliners had even made a peep.
As the house lights dim down, The Wombats launched into the opening track of ‘This Modern Glitch’ with ‘Our Perfect Disease’. The advantage of this song is that the verses are quite slow and build up to a thumping chorus but there’s hardly a chance to catch your breath when the English lads fire off ‘Kill The Director’ and the crowd starts writhing like an electrical surge has pulsated through each body. The energy of those both onstage and offstage only begins to slow when the loud ringing of the moog signals it’s time for ‘Jump Into The Fog’.
The lighting then turns a devilish sexy red as Matthew Murphy proceeds to serenade us about ‘Patricia The Stripper’ a love-lorn tale about falling in love with a prostitute. The light show continues to raise the bar when during ‘Techno Fan’ we’re treated to a ridiculously intense laser show, that almost seamlessly matches the rhythm of the music and the cute vocal harmonies added by fellow band members Dan Haggis and Tord Øverland-Knudsen.
The boys then once again turn the tempo back up as well as the angst with ‘Moving To New York’ and ‘My First Wedding’ back to back. The interesting thing is that from a musical point of view The Wombats are fun and energetic. Listening to their lyrics though, you get a sense of them speaking about emotional torment and a very real anxiety that anybody can relate to. The laser light show returns for the main set closer ‘Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)’ and the synth electro beats gets the crowd hopping again.
We’re treated to a three song encore easing us in with ‘Anti-D’ but then closing the entire show with their massive hit ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ and overall I was surprised that they almost played every song from their catalogue of two very solid albums. There seems to be a running theme with The Wombats’ songs as they often make reference to a lot of dancing with ‘Backfire At The Disco’, ‘Tokyo’ and ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’ all of which incite the listener to dance and flail wildly. But the best way to describe The Wombats is that they’re a bunch of lads who like to make music that’s fun to dance to but definitely challenges your thinking if you pay attention.
Carina Nilma
Check out our photos from the Adelaide performance here!
This Modern Glitch is out now