Roisin Murphy @ Billboards,Melbourne (04/04/08)

Thu 10th Apr, 2008 in Gig Reviews

Have a look at the gorgeous photo gallery from the show here.

It was nice to be able to move around the multi-layered venue while the funked-up sounds of Declan Kelly slid around the dark walls and sticky carpets. The few onlookers grooved along, in anticipation of the main act. This freedom I felt early on was not to be mirrored later.

It began slowly at first: guys with meticulously styled hair (facial included) and very neat attire, filtered onto the dancefloor, some hand-in-hand and others with their ladies. The disco-house grew louder as people began squeezing to find a prime position in which to witness the woman known as Roisin Murphy. As I looked on from my perch, feet glued to the carpeted stair below me, I took in the male-dominated presence and breathed a myriad of colognes; a classy crowd, in line with Rosin, herself.

As the cheering began, the band emerged on stage. When the two back-up singers shimmied on with their beaming faces and fluoro get-up, you could tell this was going to be a – œshow’. The vocals of Roisin rose up before she appeared, and then, cowbells ahoy, she broke onto the stage with a pumping version of Cry Baby. This – œ90s rave-inspired dance track was the first of many she played off her latest offering, Overpowered. With her magenta gloves and Escher/Mad Hatter-inspired purple headpiece, Roisin impressed the crowd with her presence. The thumping bass and flashing strobes of the first song left me wondering if it would not have been better placed towards the end of the set-list. Still, fun was had by all and it was a great one to get the crowd going.

Between nearly every song there was a disco interlude in which time Roisin changed her outfit. Favourites of the night included the Robocop stylings of Dear Miami and her Roisin-ated Red Riding Hood outfit for the fantastic The Truth, a song that was on the Handsome Boy Modelling School album So…How’s Your Girl. This song was a personal favourite of the night, especially the rapping taken on in the second half of the song, showcasing Roisin’s diverse vocal talent.

Other crowd favourites included the slower Primitive, complete with a live, guitar-driven crescendo that worked well. Also great was a funked-up version of the new single You Know Me Better. However, with this track and a couple of others on the night, Roisin’s vocals were drowned out by the music and back-up singers.

Roisin also performed Moloko’s Forever More, which went down stunningly with the crowd and then finished off with a great electro-fied version of Overpowered.

An encore was imminent as the smell of poppers around me dissipated and the crowd began cheering. This led to a two-song encore which included Tell Everybody, with the crowd singing along to every word, followed by Rama Lama Ding Dong off Roisin’s first solo effort Ruby Blue. The show ended with a hammed-up bitch fight between Roisin and the fluoro back-up singers. Funnily enough, I couldn’t have thought of a more suitable ending myself.