I entered this gig to hear the ‘sounds’ of CW Stoneking (and please note ‘sounds’ is a generous description of the support act). Armed with a banjo, CW Stoneking mumbled along to poor sound quality with guttural bluesy vocals while yammering on about chickens in between songs. Cries of ‘Is this guy for real?’ were heard as the audience made it known that Canberra was just not ready for someone so Southern country. A switch to acoustic guitar bought a glimmer of hope –which quickly faded as the ear abuse continued. The crowd was more responsive to Footloose and Ghostbusters theme songs on the filler CD played in between sets.
Off to a shaky start, the night did an about-face when the main act took the stage. Being booted out of the United States hasn’t dampened the spirits of The Beautiful Girls, even if it did result in a change to the band’s line-up. The Sydney trio demonstrated their new, harder sound when they made a return to one of their early stomping grounds, University of Canberra. The Beautiful Girls won the hearts of many Stonefest punters back in 2005 when they crooned to a hung-over day-two crowd that “music, makes you feel alright”. Onstage, lead singer Matt McHugh reminisced about their Stonefest debut while pointing offstage toward where he thought the event had been staged. If he’d had his way, we would’ve all been jiving along to their surf roots vibe among the law stacks in the Library. Despite a lack of geographical direction on his part, Matt McHugh has managed to steer the band into some new territory with their third album, Ziggurats. They demonstrated a stronger sound that showed a determined departure from their folk and roots origins. Insert new drummer, Bruce Braybrooke, who demonstrated his considerable talents with a slamming drum solo at the close of the set, and whose presence brings The Beautiful Girls a rock feel that will ensure they’ll draw a crowd when they play Homebake later this year. The sound is less acoustic and more electric, with McHugh’s melodic vocals overlayed resonating guitar chords– a perfect example is Sir Your Fashion. New bassist, Paulie B gets to shine in current track In Love, which received a solid response from the crowd. For die-hard fans the same reggae beat remains in newer tracks including I Thought About You and Under a Southern Sky. The latter song was introduced by McHugh on his soapbox, reflecting on his experience in the US while delivering the prerequisite political comment disguised as an “I’m proud to be an Aussie” declaration. The song’s a winner though, so all was forgiven. Perhaps those in attendance at the gig were old school fans, because The Beautiful Girls seemed to lose the crowd during some of their newer tracks, and this was further hindered by some very drawn out improvisations which were, unfortunately, overdone. The crowd was more than happy though when a return was made to older tracks from their 2005 J award nominated album_ We’re Already Gone_ and the divine Blackbird from their 2003 EP.