Понедельник 14 Май 2012, 11:22
Tonight’s Groovin’ The Moo sideshow sees The Hi-Fi host a relatively modest crowd – maybe an extra 50 people on top of last week’s Mount Kimbie gathering, with a healthy English-backpacker quota.
The support, local three-piece Argentina, have been steadily generating domestic buzz and are eager to show off their wares in a live setting, the “new Brisbane sensation” vibe hanging thick in the air. Musically tight, the band come across as clean-cut kids who thought it would be a good idea to form a band, play the music industry game and see what happens. One can’t see why they wouldn’t succeed: even though polished, made-for-Triple J indie-pop with post-punk inflections is old news, they can still can write a decent hook and back it with a bouncy beat.
Making their Australian debut with their current tour, neo-Britpoppers The Maccabees emerge to exultant cheers and launch into the stately Child – one of the highlights of the acclaimed Given To The Wild LP. Apart from the odd guitar pose, there’s nothing remotely ‘rockstar’ about the south London collective, who have the nicest, most unassuming frontman in Orlando Weeks – leaning over his mic, an old Gibson strapped high – while touring keyboardist Will White is effectively obscured by the wall of amps.
Despite sharing more than a few stylistic similarities with fellow UK trendsetters Bombay Bicycle Club (outstanding as Elbow’s support in March), the band’s music takes on a different, punchier dimension live, Hugo and Felix White’s twin guitars creating a dense, Editors-recalling sonic mesh – a perfect foil for Weeks’ warbly croon. 2009’s breakthrough hit Love You Better is met with a boozy singalong, as are GTTW singles Feel To Follow and Pelican, but it’s the more atmospheric tracks like Glimmer and Grew Up At Midnight that ultimately take off and go places. When Weeks thanks the punters for coming out on a Wednesday night, there’s nothing arbitrary about the gesture – just genuine bonhomie. Top geezers, as they say in the Blighty.