When was the last time you had a bad time listening to a party band play party tunes? This is actually a trick question and the answer for you and anyone else is and forever will be ‘never’. That’s right, you never have a bad time listening to a party band. And if Northeast Party House continue with the type of show they put on at Sydney’s Factory Theatre, you’ll never have a bad time seeing a party band any time in the near or foreseeable future either.
Acting ably as main support for the night was Perth act Mosquito Coast. Having now put together a handy live show on the back of their unearthing by Triple J back in 2015, the duo played to a happy but restless crowd. Admittedly thinking their style and genre wasn’t really a great match for the type of crowd a Northeast Party House show attracts (read mass shoeys), Mosquito Coast were that great mix of clean and glossy as they played through the best of their 2016 EP Television Love, as well as some earlier tracks. Having never seen them before, you felt impressed by what they were doing by the conclusion of their set.
Just starting off their Calypso Beach national tour, the Melbourne six piece were at their finest as they took to the stage in an all white ensemble, only off set by front man Zach Hamilton-Reeves’ black get up. Entering the stage to Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, they swiftly moved into rager “Heartbreaker”, which set the tone for what was to come over the next hour. Up next was the angular “Perfect Lines”, which at the time of its release was a pleasant move forward, as the band moved away from its traditional synth influenced tracks. With Hamilton-Reeves crushing the air guitar, this was an early highlight.
With “Calypso Beach” making an early appearance in the set, the lads threw it back to a couple tracks from their debut album, as absolute riots “Fake Friends” and “Sick Boy” made a welcome appearance. I’ve always thought these tracks never quite received the praise they should have; hopefully their live performance might go some way in changing that.
With “Dare” up next, things were about to get a little bit different. Upon walking into the venue, every punter was offered NPH branded 3D glasses. Having known the band to play with a quality light show, it definitely made sense to spice the visual experience up a little with some 3D glasses. You’d have just loved to have been in the band meeting when the idea come about. “Look, we’ve got some spare cash in the band kitty, how do we want to use it? I was thinking maybe some studio time or something? No? Ok, any other ideas? 3D glasses? Fucking brilliant.” With “Dare” entering an extended breakdown to take full advantage of the glasses, to borrow from the classic teen movie Ten Things I Hate About You, I was left neither overwhelmed, nor underwhelmed, but just whelmed about the whole 3D glasses thing.
With a couple stage rushers making their presence felt through out the set, it was great to see the band not be too phased by the whole thing, as they (and extra cowbell) absolutely crushed sentimental fan favourite “The Haunted”. Moving into the closing stages of the set, the genuinely lovely “For You” made an appearance, before the band thanked the Sydney crowd once more and moved into the Duran Duran-esque “Your House”.
Closing out the main set with absolute belter “Love Machine”, the band quickly came back on for their one-track encore and ended with a personal favourite in “Youth Allowance”. With the crowd a hot and sweaty mess, you got the sense you just witnessed a band in their prime who genuinely have their shit together on stage. If you still can, definitely head along to a Northeast Party House party over the coming weeks. You won’t have a bad time.
Northeast Party House continue their tour in Hobart and Melbourne this weekend. For dates and all the details, head to their Facebook Page.
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