Perhaps the biggest dent to ticket sales on Sunday night was simply the fact that it was a Sunday, which makes the fact that the Hi Fi Bar seemed a little light on patrons a little disappointing when The Long Blondes came to strut their stuff. The band aren’t as well known here in Australia, which is disappointing considering their debut album, Someone To Drive You Home , which combined sounds similar to that of Pulp/Jarvis , Buzzcocks and Blondie , was massively underrated when released last year. Actually, the smaller turn out worked in the favour of the audience, as they got a more intimate performance when upstairs had been curtained off and everyone eventually came forward.
Belles Will Ring supported, and gave a solid set of rock tunes ranging from heavy material to laid back, mellower tracks. What let them down was that they really didn’t look like they were enjoying themselves (drummer Ivan Lisyak simply looked bored up the back) until their last track when they really started moving about, pushing one another around and just letting go. ‘And Jesus Said Unto Me’ was perhaps one of their finer moments, with singer Liam Judson letting out a fair yell for a little guy.
As everyone moved forward the lower level suddenly looked like it had a fair bunch of people crowding about. The Long Blondes walked out, with frontwoman Kate Jackson all smiles and looking gorgeous. The rest of the group was very low key, smiling a lot less than their leading lady as they came out. Jackson and guitarist/keyboardist Emma Chaplin seemed complete opposites, Jackson wearing a red cocktail dress and Chaplin wearing jeans half way up her stomach and dorky top. Jackson was the stand-out on stage from the get go as she danced about, smiling all the while, never losing a beat of energy.
The high squeal of guitar kick started opener ‘Lust In The Movies’ which set a good standard for the whole set. The poor lighting in the Hi Fi Bar didn’t really do justice to the “brightness” of the Long Blondes songs, though Jackson’s bouncing around and dancing with her microphone cord certainly livened things up.
The infectious pop sound continued song after song, with tracks like ‘Weekend Without Makeup’ and ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ sparking sing-alongs and a fair bit of dancing. Dorian Cox lent his very Jarvis -like voice to half-spoken track ‘You Could Have Both’.
Reenie Hollis on bass very subtly and coolly played right of stage, every now and then turning and smiling, showing she was enjoying herself. Chaplin and Cox interchanged between keyboard and guitar. Again, their stage presences were quite subtle in comparison to Jackson. It was easy to see why Jackson had been polled at number 7 in NME magazine’s cool list; she simply reeked of fun and glamour and had a brilliant stage presence. Jackson’s tattooed lines up the back of each of her legs, and a large design on her shoulder also stood out.
Lesser known songs, ‘Guilt’ and ‘I’m going to hell’ were delivered with a bright intensity that made them sound like favourites amongst the crowd. Early b-side ‘Five Ways To End It’ went on and on, whilst ‘Here Comes The Serious Bit’ was quite ironically delivered in a fun and anything but serious manner. ‘Giddy Statospheres’ ended the set rather abruptly after not too long at all and Jackson made the horrendous mistake of thanking the wrong city, Brisbane. Despite laughs and yells of “It’s Melbourne!” coming from the crowd, the five piece didn’t even seem to realise.
Returning for an encore of ‘Once And Never Again’ and the super-energetic ‘Separated By Motorways’ (which was by far the stand out song of the night) the Long Blondes again had everyone dancing about and singing loudly. It was disappointing that the Sheffield five-piece couldn’t draw a larger crowd but all the same they played a fast and pop-friendly set that seemed to please their smaller crowd of fans.
