Late last week, I headed along to the Forum in Sydney to check out the latest installment of [V] Live – this time showcasing the young talents of Operator Please.
On entry, I was immediately impressed by the set up. Up front, the underage were given prime access, giving the 10 camera set up a guaranteed enthusiastic response. The rest of the room was filled with various media types, heralded into the room with the promise of free food and alcohol. Indeed, this was a well catered event that left this writer pretty damn satisfied. And without any pressure to get up the front, I was able to sit back and enjoy what was a surprisingly fantastic performance from the Gold Coast five piece.
Also impressive was the lighting rig set up on stage. The florescent tubes curving behind and above the band was the centrepiece of a fantastic light production that leaves you wishing they were doing this more often. I can only imagine how good this will look on TV.
Tonight was the first time I’d properly heard the material off the band’s latest LP Gloves, and I’ve got to say, it outshines their earlier work by a long shot. Especially in the live setting. It feels made for it. “Loops”, “Just Kiss” and “Losing Patience” were of particular mention – “Just Kiss” causing quite a party on the dancefloor.
Of course, their earlier material made an appearance too – a “tweeked” version of “Just a Song About Ping Pong” was fantastic, and “Zero! Zero!”, which closed out the encore, was great to hear. “Logic”, their latest single, finished out the main set, and most up front were singing along to every word. A mash up of “Lose My Breath” with No Doubt’s “Hella Good” also filled the ‘Cover Song’ quota in style.
This is very much a band who is, against all the odds and expectations, coming into their element on the back of a second album. Amandah Wilkinson continues to prove that she was always made for the stage, but it’s more than that now. As the lead singer, she truly holds her own, helping provide a atmosphere that makes you feel honoured to be a part of. The backing members, Taylor, Ashley, Tim and Chris – once quiet and unassuming, have come into their own as well, making this a very tight, wholly impressive band.
You might have expected Operator Please to be a flash in the pan, running their “youth” card into the ground until they drifted into obscurity – but low and behold, we have a band who aren’t going anywhere. And if you think of the fact they’ve already produced several pop anthems before even turning 20 – I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet.
Unlike last year’s [V] Live: Jet performance, this event was not shown live on TV, but will be shown on [V] at some point later this month. We’ll tweet about it when we know more!
