Dead Letter Circus impressed the crowd when they toured with Karnivool earlier this year, and have ridden a success wave back across the country, this time as the headline act.
Dead Letter Circus were ably supported by Streetlight who played the kind of flawless prog-expectant-rock-with-a-twist that their loyal fans have come to expect. There really isn’t enough electric violin or glockenspiel in rock music these days. With six people crowded onto the tiny Amplifier stage there really wasn’t enough room for them to be their usual spectacular selves, but luckily you don’t need too much space to make good music.
Not only are Streetlight this year’s WAMi darlings, they are also Kim Benzie ’s new favourite band. He was dancing in the crowd during their set, bigged them up during Dead Letter Circus’ set, and now owns a Streetlight T-shirt.
It is the highest compliment to a band’s music when the headlining act loves your work enough to buy your merch. Whilst waiting in line to buy his shirt, Benzie spoke to DLC fans and autographed stolen posters with his own silver pen but the whole time he was telling fans how fantastic the support act were. Chalk up one more point for Streetlight who are in danger of becoming Perth’s new little overachievers.
DLC have played a gruelling schedule this time around in Perth, spreading themselves into the furthest reaches of Perth, playing five gigs and sharing around the privilege of support act among some lesser-known Perth bands.
Despite having a couple of new songs to play, DLC played a very short set, but for all that, the intensity was turned up to 11. The fans were jammed in, spilling out the doors and standing on things to get a better view. There wasn’t enough room inside to do more than jump up and down waving one or both fists in the air, so to show their appreciation, the most dedicated fans just had to jump higher and faster than everyone else. Their exertion was rewarded by Benzie’s full attention and several sing-into-the-mic opportunities.
The intimacy of the Amplifier stage suits Benzie’s performance style; letting him truly interact with the audience, in a reach-out-and-touch-them kind of way. His vocals punched and soared alongside the insistent guitar riffs of Rob Maric as they performed the songs from their EP. Are We Closer? and The Mile had the fans responding excitedly before the climactic finish with crowd favourite, Disconnect and Apply.
Dubbed the ‘Steve Judd Circus Ensemble’, the Perth gigs feature skins genius Steve Judd, an experiment Benzie hopes will give ‘sexy results’. Playing shirtless was certainly a good start. In addition to their drummer, Karnivool also donated a tablespoonful of kudos as well, since many of the excited/impatient fans admitted between sets that they were huge Karnivool fans who had discovered DLC when they played support at Capitol in June.
Rumours are we can expect another EP before they tour again, and dare we hope for a longer set on the next time round?
