Faker, Sparkadia, Snob Scrilla@ The Forum, Melbourne(14/09/09)

Sat 13th Sep, 2008 in Gig Reviews

The atmosphere was somewhat different on Friday night for Faker’s Are You Magnetic? tour show, probably more suited to a smaller pub with a stage than a huge event type venue such the Forum Theatre. Plenty of gen-y’ers streamed into the venue in large groups, ready to soak up the sounds of Faker, Sparkadia and Snob Scrilla with buckets of Corona and Vodka Cruisers. While the floor bounced for This Heart Attack, plenty of people seemed more intent on socialising then listening to tunes.

Opening the night was Los Angeles born, Sydney MC Snob Scrilla. Along with a backup band and DJ, he played a five song intro set of radio friendly hip-hop meets electro – think Gym Class Heroes on top of New Young Pony Club-esque beats. While the end result could have been something worth checking out, sadly it was far from it. Scrilla’s rhymes are clichéd hip-hop that has been done too many times before, whether it’s about a girl not willing to support your dreams (There You Go Again) or annoying guys in the club (Mister Whatever). The backing band was an absolute mess whose sounds all became lumped together with no individuality. The DJ was unable to be heard as he stood there lifelessly mixing, while their lead guitarist played the same three chords, only changing the speed that they were played for each song. While the majority of the crowd gave polite golf claps at the end of each song (a few members from the back heckled), it was very clear that Snob Scrilla did not connect with the audience in any way. The stage at the Forum is just too big for this MC right now.

On the other hand, second warm up act Sparkadia had the stage presence to fill the Forum twice over. Unlike so many acts playing the Aussie indie circuit right now, this Sydney act have a combination of a great look, polished performance skills and an ever increasing songbook of hit singles. Playing modern adult pop in the vein of Editors or Something for Kate off latest album Postcards, it was obvious that Sparkadia were going to pick up a few fans from this performance. There were plenty of highlights – the thumping drums meeting 80s new wave synth work on Jealousy, a modern re-interpretation of The Police’s Roxanne meeting Patrick Wolf’s The Magic Position with Morning Light, and the simple yet stunning lyrics of Up in the Air. Apart from lead vocalist Alex Burnett’s somewhat hardsell on getting the audience to come along to the band’s show at Corner next month, Sparkadia’s set of bursting drums, sugar sweet melodies and Burnett’s smooth as butter voice. Musical magic.

It was never explained throughout the show, but Faker’s obsessive object of the night was the skeleton. It was everywhere, from the opening video showing a skeleton driving a car off a cliff setting a Faker logo alight, to the cardboard cutout skeleton attached to lead singer Nathan Hudson’s microphone. As the band opened with Sleepwalking, Hudson gave the crowd a taste of what were his on stage antics for the entire night – running across the stage, jumping onto monitors, pointing his right palm out towards the crowd. Lazy Bones was dedicated to the cardboard cutout mentioned earlier, and Hudson took up a uniquely coloured pink and baby blue acoustic guitar for Love For Sale. In keeping with the skeleton theme, Death Beach Party brought out a dozen people dressed in skeleton masks and costumes.

The two downsides to the performance were somewhat related – the crowd and the order of the set list. The crowd sat on their hands for much of the performance (somewhat surprising when the band played early single Hurricane) until recent hit This Heart Attack got everyone bouncing up and singing along. This continued through Are You Magnetic? and encore Ghosts, but this attitude from the crowd was not prevalent earlier in their set. While the band managed to fit fifteen to sixteen songs into an hour and a quarter long set, at many times the show dragged, allowing you to hear the loud conversation between songs by the crowd. No doubt when Faker is next in Melbourne they will have a few more mainstream radio hits to appease the fans that turned out at the Forum, and be able to have them cheering from start to finish.