2007 saw The Panics win a top ten spot in the Hottest 100, and the J-Award for their Cruel Guards album. All that attention has been turned into crowd support, as the West Australian 5-piece sold out the Tivoli, and justified the hype with a fantastic set.
When The Wilson Pickers stride out on stage, there’s barely a trickle of people inside. But the supergroup, consisting of Danny Widdicombe, Sime Nugent, Andrew Morris and John Bedggood (fifth member Ben Salter is in Los Angeles with his group The Gin Club) soon have the area in front of stage moving and cheering with their dancey blues/country/bluegrass numbers. Nugent is particularly good with his songs (he, Morris and Widdicombe share frontman duties), and Bedggood on the banjo and violin adds a layer of depth to the excellent performance. The lack of drums actually works in their favour, and allows some footstomping good times, especially on Cold River and Little Old Man. The Wilson Pickers was originally a temporary, one-night-only arrangement, but with an album now on the way, fans of these performers can look forward to some great shows in the future.
It’s pretty safe to assume that Little Red met as friends, then became a band, because, with three alternating frontmen, it’s hard to imagine that there were three seperate people who just happened to be writing indie-rock-by-way-of-60s-dancehall-swing songs, and met by coincidence. No matter which member is leading, all four other members provide harmonising vocals, adding to the retro feel. Even the occasional island rock numbers are excellent, with drummer Taka Honda swaying left to right to add to the relaxed feel. Tom Hartney lends a dusty swagger to his numbers, as he is unencumbered by a guitar, but Adrian Beltrame and Quang Dinh do pretty good work too. The best part is the complete lack of self-satisfaction – these guys draw on their 60s and 70s influences without the slightest hint of smugness or sly winking at the audience. They play like this because they like it, not because they want the audience to think that they’re clever. In any case, tonight’s audience think they rock, and let them know as they finish their set.
The Panics have held court at smaller venues The Troubador and The Zoo on nearly all of their previous shows. So tonight’s venue upgrade was a risk, banking on the buzz generated by the J-Award winning Cruel Guards album. And tonight the buzz pays off in spades, as every inch of the venue is packed out, and the gig is officially sold out. In return for this acclaim, they put on the best Panics show Brisbane has ever seen. They open with Creak, Ruins and Live Without, all from the new album, and although in the early stages the mix is trampling over Jae Laffer ’s vocals, this is soon fixed. Cash sees Laffer, Drew Wootton and Jules Douglas combine piano, acoustic and electric guitar to great effect. The band are constantly blown away by the size and response of the crowd, which just makes the crowd love them even more – the hauntingly beautiful Cruel Guards even has the crowd singing along. This should be the Panics anthem song – it’s lush, layered and complex, and all five band members shine throughout.
Musically, the members of the Panics are superb as always. Douglas deserves more credit than he usually gets – his contributions to the songs, be they on piano, guitar or just percussion, are what turn the Panics from a fairly good four piece into a stunning five piece. And Wootton’s brilliant guitar work is also criminally underacknowleged. Tonight Laffer gives him an introduction to the crowd, and Wootton responds by muffing the opening to Something In The Garden. But it’s all in good fun, and he gets it right on the do-over. The band wrap up the main set with Don’t Fight It, complete with brass assistance from the trumpeter and tromboner from the John Steel Singers, before closing with Get Us Home. These two big numbers get the rousing reception they deserve, but everyone’s expecting more. The band deliver just that with album closer Sundowner, before finishing the night with the sweepingly epic instrumental Fire On The Hill. If the Panics keep on putting together shows as good as tonight’s, its only a matter of time before they achieve the superstardom they so richly deserve.
