The Grates, Dr Dog, Whitley,Yves Klein Blue @ The Zoo,Brisbane, 11/12/2007

Mon 17th Dec, 2007 in Gig Reviews

Tonight Dew Process celebrated both it’s fifth birthday and the Christmas season by throwing a party that few will ever forget, as four bands from both near and far showcased their talents in a night of festive rock.

Local boys Yves Klein Blue open proceedings with another solid set of dancey-mod-rock. It may be the genre of the moment, but these boys do it better than most, and have tightened their live show to a fine art. The epic Dinosaur is a definite highlight, and gives guitarist Charles Sale a chance to shine, but the surprise success of the set is a cover of Lou Reed’s Vicious – singer Michael Tomlinson’s voice sounds just as good reaching Reed’s murky levels as it does when he plays up the pop. Yves Klein Blue are definitely a band to watch in 2008.

Melbourne’s Whitley plays a gentler set of rock, but is still loved by the crowd packed into every corner of the sold out Zoo. The shimmering soundscapes that are created by Whitley and his band echo beautifully through the venue – the aching I Remember and Lost In Time pack a mental punch like nothing else that will appear tonight. Whitley’s vocals and guitar work are sublime and he takes all the hyper out of a cover of Bjork’s Hyperballad, which he performs solo. It’s a pity that a song he didn’t write gets the biggest cheer, but at the end of the night, an audience which came for dance rock has been won over by an act which prefers to hear the gentle swaying of bodies to the crunching of feet.

Dr Dog may have been relative unknowns at the start of their set, but by the end the crowd was cheering like they were the main attraction. Their music defies genre – it’s a sweaty mix of folk, pop, retro and psychadelic rock – and the live show is a stunner, with a pair of vocalists showing two distinct but still very enmeshed sides. When Tables takes the lead, he delivers vocals with a powerful intensity that grip the audience like a vice, while Taxi is a bit more laidback and suave. This band have some famous fans (Beck, The White Stripes) and comparisons to the Shins are not unfounded, but Dr Dog take their directions from noone, and leave it all out on the stage – the reasons Dew Process signed this US band are obvious.

The Grates have always had a DIY aesthetic, and tonight is no different, as the band trot out on stage to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock and decorate the stage with streamers and a Christmas tree. With the formalities out of the way, they rip into their set with Lies and Howl, but the levels aren’t quite right yet, in that it’s not very loud. After a new song, Inside Outside sees the volume back to normal, ear-ringing level, and gets the crowd dancing and singing along as a party atmosphere takes hold, which you would expect it to at a Grates show. Patience is her usual effervescent self, and John and Alana seem to relish being back on stage after an extended break.

New songs are riddled throughout tonight’s set, and every one gets an explosive cheer. The new songs sit effortlessly alongside the classic Grates songs, but a few of them also seem a little darker – the new album should be very interesting, as The Grates attempt to duplicate the success of debut Gravity Won’t Get You High. Rock Boys sees Patience twirling her ribbon, but there’s not a lot of room for her to work in. The crowd moshes hard for the chorus of Like Pain, before dancing their feet off for the fastest version of Message ever. It’s amazing that Patience can keep up with John and Alana’s frenetic playing. By the time The Grates wrap up their set with hit single 19-20-20, it’s clear that they’ve still got the live fever, and 2008 should be just as big for them as the past two years.