I love Deep Sea Arcade. They’re a band of increasingly impressive talent who are certain to go far. So the fact I missed them was quite upsetting – but I’m sure I’ll see them again soon enough! Thankfully, however, I did arrive just in time for Sydney based electronic trio Seekae. They were an odd choice to put right before Cloud Control – I feel they may have been better suited to open the night, rather than serve as CC’s precursor. But this is only for the sake of the all ages crowd in attendance – many of whom seemed rather confused at what was happening on the stage. Personally, I thought they sounded fantastic.
Seekae’s music flirts with ambience – often akin to an artist like Caribou – but is of high energy for the majority, with more than enough synthesizers and glockenspiels to keep any fan of the genre happy. And with a Megastick Fanfare remix amongst their set, they certainly know their local target market – the self imposed “Sydney music elitists” that work for FBi and websites like the AU review – plenty of which were in attendance tonight. HOW DARE THEY HAVE OPINIONS!! 😀 While perhaps ill-placed, I always love to see a band out of context, and I thouroughly enjoyed the set.
Interestingly enough, I headed into tonight’s gig on a purely social escapade. I never planned on writing a review, thinking to myself “What more can I say about Cloud Control?” – after all, a quick look back through the AU review’s database shows countless postings from yours truly about Blue Mountain’s wunderkinds. While this argument may have been sound at first, as the set unraveled, I slowly started to realise that I was witnessing one of the best gigs of the year, and it occured to me that something NEEDED to be said.
Playing in front of an impressively sold out Metro crowd – a fact the band had to continuely pinch themselves about – the energy the crowd gave, was given right back by the entusiastic four piece. It was hard to wipe a smile off Al’s face, and it seemed like they could do no wrong, providing us with the most energetic set I’ve ever seen by the band, aside from perhaps Splendour in the Grass.
What really set the gig on fire was “There’s nothing in the water we can’t fight” – a track which I can guarantee will be high up on the Hottest 100 charts next year. The crowd ate it up, moshing, crowd surfing and stage diving – it must have left the band slightly bewildered. It’s just not the sort of reception they’re used to (although the Splendour crowd was up there…)! This track finished off the main set, and when the band came back on for a three track encore, they truly provided that ‘amazing gig’ moment.
They kicked things off with a cope of Kid Cudi‘s “Pursuit of Happiness”, which was both unexpected and wonderful. Drummer Ulrich Lennfer showed us some mad hip hop attitude. “Gold Canary” followed in one of the best renditions I’ve heard to date, featuring a Butthole Surfers (“Pepper”) interlude that absolutely killed it. It was by far the moment of the night – and when “Ghost Story” accompanied by an impressive jam closed things off, the crowd gave the band an unprecedented roar of approval.
If anyone doubted that Cloud Control are the best band in Australia right now, tonight those doubts would have been put to bed. They’re in a class of their own.
