Tonight was night three of Laura Imbruglia’s Excelsior Hotel August residency, and the first time I’d ever had the opportunity to catch the singer/songwriter in action. Following on from “Country Laura” and “Acoustic Laura”, tonight she was in band mode, performing as a three piece, with support from locals Machine Machine.
The five piece set the night off with a polished sound and a great sound engineer – for once, the vocals were spotless! Fans of the local Sydney scene might call them a grungy version of the Whipped Cream Chargers – others might liken them to a bit of early Weezer, with a heavier emphasis on the rock and roll. But all in all, it was good bit of fun – and with up to four guitars at any given time, unseen since Brian Jonestown Massacre were in town, it was a bit of a spectacle too. “Lightning”, which was ‘a smash hit in four suburbs!’ was one of my favourite tracks of their set. Check em out!
As the Excelsior packed out, Laura Imbruglia took to the stage, presenting her quirky, fun brand of indie guitar rock (with a slight country edge), tonight accompanied by a drummer and bass guitarist (who also played the ukulele). The bouncy “Older Men” opened the show, and got the crowd on their feet (they’d been sitting down to now), where the remained for the rest of the show.
Playing tracks off her new album The Lighter Side Of…, Laura pleased the crowd with tracks like “Pauly”, “You’re A Parasitic Germ”, “Love Or Cancer”, “Wouldn’t Be Surprised” and the recent single “I Want To Be Your Girlfriend”. But her earlier recordings got a nod, too, with “Surly”, “Tear Ducts” and “Looking For A Rabbit” scattered amongst the setlist. In “…Rabbit”, I found a track which was bit like the Pixies meets Le Tigre, with a bit of a jam thrown in. She even had a guitar solo in a new track which followed. She got on the keys for a track, to which she was embarassed to have forgotten the notes – but got there in the end, making for yet another entertaining addition to the evening.
There’s something truly original to the Laura Imbruglia sound, that makes it both entertaining and appealing for people of all music tastes. And the epic last track, with at any time saw two guitars being played (even the drummer picked up the acoustic at one point), quite honestly left my jaw on the ground. This is a versitile performer, in every sense of the word – I entered the Excelsior an intrigued onlooker, but I left the venue a fan.
Her residency packs up next week with a Karaoke night! Should be interesting… she says that she’s enlisted the help of quite a few fascinating characters. And possibly you, too?
