There’s no place quite like Sydney Harbour. The Harbour Bridge standing silent, illuminated and majestic; the Opera House elegantly lit up in white; the dark expanse of water that’s only disturbed by the puttering of ferries and sail boats. It’s not a rare sight for anybody, but it makes a spectacular scene when it’s turned into a live music venue. Apart from playing a blinding set at this year’s Splendour In The Grass, this is only the second show that Tame Impala have played on Australian soil in support of their acclaimed record Currents.
It’s a fitting venue for the country’s biggest rock band, but Kevin Parker, in a way, may just be the most unlikely rock star in the country. He moves awkwardly around the stage, obviously a lot more comfortable with his eyes closed and focused on wrenching glorious streams of distortion from his Rickenbacker than when he tries to pull out the rock star moves. It doesn’t matter, because no one here expects Parker to be anything other than what he is: a veritable modern music genius, presiding over the arguably the best band out there. If he plays with his eyes closed, who cares?
From the gliding, technicolour opener “Let It Happen”, to Parker pulling liquidy notes from his guitar in “Mind Mischief”, to the extended, spiralling jams, to the 8 bar splice of disco that enters in the stomping “Elephant” before the bands ducks back into that near impossible groove – it’s hard to imagine Tame Impala being anywhere other than at the top of their game.
Their skill of knowing when to pull back and deliver a note for note recreation, and when to bloom into fuzzy jams, is masterful. It’s a performance only marred by the sound quality: “Let It Happen” was so low that the pre chorus synths were inaudible, and even after the repeated crowd chants of “turn it up”, the following two tracks saw Parker’s vocals pushed far back into the mix. It was only half way through that matters began to improve with the crunchy “The Less I Know The Better”, melting into “Eventually”. New tracks “Cause I’m A Man” and “Yes I’m Changing” followed, and were presented with minimal alteration save for a drippy guitar interlude.
Lonerism tracks “Feel Like We Only Go Backwards” and “Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control” fell at the end, and after Parker and his band bowed and vanished into the blinding light, all that was left was a spiraling green light and warping guitar feedback, bouncing off the bright Opera House behind.
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