One thing that my friends in the UK have always bragged about over the years were the bands that their Universities would get for their Orientation week-equivalent, Freshers’ Week. Well it seems the kind folks at Boundary Sounds were a bit jealous as well, and organised an Australian-wide tour / mini festival “The Big O”, featuring some of Australia’s and the UK’s best artists. Simply put, Uni kids have never had it any better.
While headliners The Music and The Fratellis were obviously the stars of the show, the Aussie contingent was in full force as well. Playing his first local gigs in quite a while and promoting a new album, Ben Lee headlined the Manning Stage, gathering a faithful group of onlookers in the process. Bluejuice, no strangers to the Manning Bar (seriously, it’s a bit ridiculous how often they perform), performed their standard high-energy set which included plenty of crowd surfing, half naked men and sing-alongs.
Meanwhile, local up-and-comers Yves Klein Blue and Cassette Kids drew some of the first crowds I’ve seen where their songs were actually known. The former fresh out of the LA studio, and the latter enjoying a barrage of festival performances, they’re both enjoying followings of their own, and are no doubt picking up even more fans along the way.
Downstairs, they were out of standing room for The Fratellis, who set the crowd into a frenzy with tracks of their two LPs, “Costello Music” and “Here We Stand”, including all the hits such as the recent(ish) hit “Mistress Mabel”. While they were definitely fun to watch, I really couldn’t quite get into them… with little audience interaction, and not much on the ‘spontaneous’ side of things, I can’t help but say they’re not a great live band. They just don’t possess the stage presence of their similar contemporaries. Nonetheless, the sing-alongs were deafening, and the crowd provided the true fun of their performance.
Back in 2005, The Music were enjoying the success of their incredible second album, “Welcome to the North”, and enjoyed a spot on the Big Day Out main stage, providing a performance which quite literally blew everyone away. Already a fan, I couldn’t believe the talent these young lads from Leeds possessed… and the incomperable stage presence they had already achieved. Bass guitarist Stuart Coleman, in particular, showed everyone how it was done, and in my opinion is easily one of the best live bass guitarists today.
Now, 4 years on, on tour for their well-overdue, yet slightly disappointing, third album “Strength in Numbers”, perform just as well – but surprisingly the set felt very similar to what I’d seen 4 years earlier. They ended with a similar drum jam session and favourite “Bleed From Within”. Sure, if you get a good thing, go with it, but I really felt like they hadn’t progressed much since then. And the tracks off their first 2 LPs were easily the best parts of the night. “Freedom Fighters” remains absurdly fantastic. Maybe after being so blown away in 2005, I expected the same effect, which was never going to happen… I guess I would have just liked to have seen something new. Nonetheless, they still stuck out as the best band of the night, and definitely I hope they blew the minds of a few people who didn’t know them. They deserve all the fans they can get.
The Big O is an absolutely fantastic idea, and I’m slightly less jealous of my British mates now. Will definitely be interesting to see who Boundary Sounds bring over next year. I can only salivate at the thought of someone like Klaxons or Bloc Party jumping on the headlining spot next time.
