Brisbane’s Gin Club, the near perfect choice for a Band of Horses opening act, work the same dusted plains and drunken pains as The Drones and Kill Devil Hills. Though, with a shuffle of instrument changes between almost every song it’s almost as though every member is determined to put everything into their particular moment on keys, guitar or drums and too often their tunes are lost in the haze as the nine members seem to compete with each other. When they gel, as they do on Ten Paces Away, they rise towards the heights of The Band or early Wilco, but too often they fall tantalisingly short on their promise. However their regular closer Gas Guzzler always offers a glimpse at just how great they are when firing.
Fresh from their slot at Splendour Band of Horses opened the first of their two nights in Melbourne with Is There A Ghost with the emphasis on Ben Bridwell’s richly echoing voice rising on a tide of reverb over the band’s gentle instrumentation. Having established his vocal as the clear standout of the band’s sound they moved into the first album epic The Great Salt Lake.
Announcing the part of the set when ‘we play new stuff’ Bridwell brought out a few new toys – harmonica and melodica – dropping the tempo a notch or two both in the band’s volume and audience response. These newer tunes move them away from their most regular comparison – My Morning Jacket – perhaps even more so with MMJ having ceded the ground with a more eclectic approach on their latest album, Evil Urges, not to mention Jim James’ current love of Prince influenced vocals. While these quieter tunes dropped the tempo, any thought of a lull was quickly dismissed with a rousing take on the stunning First Song. Rather less successfully than the Gin Club they then switched the lead vocal duties, with guitarist Tyler Ramsey offering a serviceable though clichéd tale of barroom romance. As if to show how it should be done Bridwell followed up with No One’s Gonna Love You – a tune that surely features on the wistful mixtapes of many a lovelorn fellow.
Their ‘fake last’ tune Funeral is a fitting and much loved closer to the set earning a hefty cheer from the audience. Despite knowing that they would soon be back on stage the full house of punters were forcefully boisterous in their demands for their return, stamping, cheering and craning their heads to see the band staring down from their lofty greenroom window. As they returned to the stage as a stripped back to a four piece one excited punter called out the compliment ‘love your facial hair’ bringing a smirk to Bridwell’s face as the band they lurched the rumbling Our Swords with a bass driven Southern rock edge that brings them closest to the Kings of Leon. While their closer offered a brief solo on the Rhodes and left the crowd sure they’d seen something special. Band of Horses wore huge grins all night – especially their bass player and wife-beater and cravat clad drummer – and as the punters filed out of the club it was clear that those grins were very contagious.
