Bridezilla and The Scare @ TheAnnandale Hotel, Sydney(06/04/08)

Tue 8th Apr, 2008 in Gig Reviews

It is early on a Sunday evening and Bridezilla is about to transport the audience to another world with the magical sounds they create. The Annandale Hotel is the perfect venue for the story that the audience is about to become a part of, the paint and old posters peeling off the walls, dripping with memories.

The band is on stage wearing silk, lace and bow ties. Up the front, Holiday on vocals looks like a pixie. The music has a maturity well beyond the young ages of the band members and the crescendos are breathtaking, the saxophone and violin adding something a little different than most people are used to hearing on the Sydney live music scene.

Holiday’s voice has an edge that makes every song sound heartbreaking. Despite how powerful and convincing her words are, every song feels fragile. Brown Paper Bag in particular feels on the edge of shattering: it starts with an excited shriek from someone in the audience but builds such a tension that there is an expectation someone will start crying any moment. Then the saxophone kicks in again and the audience is reminded where they are being taken – a small European town, perhaps, decades ago. A place where rich girls come to feel like gypsies, ripping their dresses to shreds and dancing with tambourines. There is magic in the air, a bittersweet magic made more exciting by drummer Josh’s constant smiling and Holiday’s soft laughing into the microphone between songs. Their set ends but the magic lingers.

And then for a complete change of pace, The Scare come on stage, a heap of black clothing and loud guitars. Kiss, the singer, looks intimidating but also tempting, luring the audience closer to the stage. A strikingly different story is being told here. This one involves manic energy and a big mess being created, drinks spilled and spat out and Kiss rolling around in a way that threatens serious injury.

The majority of the audience stands further back, reluctant to throw themselves into this tale that involves shedding all inhibitions, but a small group is gathered at the front dancing insanely. Towards the middle of the set, the stage becomes too small for The Scare, especially with Holiday from Bridezilla accompanying them for a song. The pair-up provides an interesting contrast of sounds – Kiss’s rough voice reminiscent of Iggy Pop mixed with Nick Cave, and Holiday’s beautiful, fragile one. Kiss ends up in the audience, of course, making his way through the crowd to stir a few more people into losing their minds; the point of this world we’re in now. It’s a short set but a sweaty, messy, insane one. Everyone that has witnessed it has in some way been jolted out of their comfort zone. The Scare has left their mark.