This was my first time ever to The Globe Theatre, and this old cinema would easily be one of the coolest venues I have ever been to. The harmonising red carpet and curtains accompanied by with the heavenly couches sets the most pleasant and cosy mood. After briefly talking to an atypically lovely bartender, I was surprised to find out that the theatre is actually a community based volunteer initiative! It is such a fantastic and rare concept; it’s to refreshing to know how generous some people are with their time…

As I walked into the concert hall the first thing I noticed is that the floor sloped downwards, as does a movie cinema, which made it easier to see, spread out and enjoy the show. When Mercy Arms came out, the first thing just about everyone realised was that these guys were far from a – œtypical’ Australian band. They are also not driven by fashion or fads, but perhaps purely from the desire to create good music.

It was a rather peculiar and intriguing sight – the four grown men appeared on stage drenched in matching unadulterated white outfits. They were fully clad in white tights, hippy-style loose shirts, and curiously enough, guitarist Kirin Callinan had caked on mascara and was wearing a white nighty. To get up on stage in white tights takes balls, but it felt as if they were having a go at the fashion forward bands, trying to prove that style isn’t what makes good music.

But now the pressure was on! Mercy Arms now had to prove they were serious about their music – they had to put on a good show. As the set progressed it became evident that the crowd was impressed with their skilfully crafted sensationally ambient music. They produced an unbelievably unique sound, which was simply epic, ambitious, moody, and mega powerful. They played all the tracks on their debut album, and the crowd responded best to Footsteps, Down Here So Long, and predominantly loved Half Right and Kilby.

There were a few downsides to their performance: they simply lacked stage presence. The expressions on lead signer Thom Moore’s face were as if he didn’t want to be there. If it wasn’t for Kirin’s bird imitation style dancing (he definitely has aspirations to be in Metallica) then the sullen mood would have been a real downer on the show.

For their last song, Tom spoke quite a few inaudible words, Kirin’s mike fell out of the stand onto the floor, and then half way through drummer Julian Sudek dropped a drum stick and they had to start the song again. Nonetheless the crowd were still impressed with the mesmerizing rhythm, deafening fuzz, and especially Thom’s intensely poetic voice. So as the crowds progressed out the door, a small group of us hung about and prayed they would come back on to wow us once more. And wow us they did! Amazingly enough, Mercy Arms plus six other guys from the support bands crowded on stage for an impressively epic and gobsmacking 10 minute jam session.

There were two guys singing and two on drums, a guy doing a hell of a lot of nothing with a tambourine and a beer and another one tapping drum sticks together, and everyone else just seemed to blend so well on the stage with guitars. To finish off, in a massively rock star way Kirin pretended to throw his mike stand off the stage and Thom got so into it that he took off his shirt and actually started grooving! Such a profound ending, and I most certainly can’t wait to hear more from this one of a kind distinctive band.