The Pipettes, Little Red @East Brunswick Club, Melbourne(02/01/2007)

Tue 8th Jan, 2008 in Gig Reviews

The Pipettes are still far from fame here in Australia; a fact made evident when organisers gave the UK outfit an early afternoon slot at Falls Festival despite them being a popular name back home. Likewise, the East Brunswick Club was hardly bursting its doors (as it so often does when reaching capacity) as a devoted group of followers trekked down for what would be the first gig of the year for most. And what a gig it was, as very rarely do bands these days emanate (both musically and visually) the girl group, pop culture of the 60s as well as the Pipettes do.

Leading up to the Pipettes set were Melbourne’s white R ‘n B stars Little Red who seem to have no shortage of festival and support slots up their sleeves. They seemed an appropriate choice for opening as their soulful, pop sound made them appear the “male version” of two bands doing a similar thing that night. There was no cheesy choreography here (as would be soon witnessed) and the five bouncingly warmed the crowd.

The Pipettes look like they’re from the wrong era. At least this is what many eyes would have believed as the curtains were drawn upon the three classy and sexy lead females. The trio wore almost matching outfits, complete with polka dotted bottoms and frilly shouldered tops. From the second their band started the three burst into sequence after sequence of choreographed steps, arm movement and head shaking. It was more than easy to see immediately the influence of 1960s girl groups such as The Honeys and The Sangri Las (notably picking up movements from the latter). Blowing kisses, flailing of arms like backstroke, waving fingers and jazz hands were amongst the slew of moves and caused a fair cringe here and there.

If the girls hadn’t already provided enough content for a flashback, then the backing band The Cassettes would certainly seal the deal. The all-male foursome producing all the pop tunes subtly in the background have to be one of the dorkiest outfits around; each donning his own grey vest with initials stitched into the chest over their white dress shirt. The almost schoolyard-uniformed look of these gentlemen shouldn’t take away from their ability, however, because their sound was infectious for many and at the very least had toes tapping.

Gwenno, Rosay and RiotBecki danced and posed their way through the hour long set, looking as bright and comfortable as possible the whole time. A few technical difficulties caused a little delay early on, but this was laughed away in good humour and the show quickly hit its stride again. Head bopping tracks like ‘Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me’ mixed in fantastically with breezy pop harmonies in the likes of ‘It’s Not Love (But It’s Still A Feeling)’ and once the initial cringing at the synchronised dancing had been taken care of it wasn’t hard for the audience to get caught up in the summer soundtrack. The tracks progressed through tales of love or lack there of with interludes from the girls to talk about boys. “The longest a relationship should last is three months,” proclaimed Gwenno who seemed intent on preventing long term relationships.

In typical English fashion, Rosay referred to the audience as “groovy” before the trio ordered more dancing from their fans. ‘Dirty Mind’ and ‘One Night Stand’ were delivered in the short sharp fashion the Pipettes are so good at (notice their 16 track debut album doesn’t go above 40 minutes) and such tracks suitably produced some shaking amongst those closer to the stage. Adding to the girls dancing was facial expression, of which RiotBecki didn’t miss a single opportunity to pull a face or wave about her arms, providing real entertainment beyond the music. Finger clicking ‘Judy’ seemed most well received among the bevy of album tracks, before set closer ‘Pull Shapes’ ensured everyone got involved as Gwenno sought to teach everyone the moves: framing the face, covering the head and the “touching” move. The awkwardness of the crowd upon having to stretch their arms out for this move provided the comic highlight of the night because it seemed to go rather haywire.

An encore performance of pop/motown album track ‘ABC’ (far from the Jackson 5 track of the same name) was well received, as was closer ‘We Are The Pipettes’, in which the trio proclaim, in case anyone hadn’t already noticed, they’re “the prettiest girls you’ve ever met”. The good humour of the Pipettes lyrics matched perfectly with their all-smiles stage approach to create an extra-cheerful set. Additionally, this debut Australian tour for the group has put in a real good word for pasty English girls.

Photos courtesy of Anthony Smith.