I have been fortunate to see some damn fine music of late, featuring different genres and venues and tonight’s gig at The Gov was no exception. Having witnessed Mr Josh Pyke play numerous times over the years it seems he has been reinvigorated with this mini tour and a new album on the way, doing Adelaide the great favour of bringing his good friends the Firekites along for the ride. Hailing from Newcastle NSW these indie kids were a long way from home for their first visit to the City of Churches. I only wish Adelaide could have been a little more welcoming. Firekites have a beautiful ethereal sound that is both haunting and mesmerizing. They are clearly talented but don’t take themselves too seriously. These guys are like a throwing caution to the wind version of Art Of Fighting or Broken Social Scene. They have deliciously layered lyrics with complex undercurrents to their songs but the poor sound engineering and the extreme rudeness of the chattering crowd meant that this was lost. Perhaps commencing their set with a beautiful instrumental was not the best idea, to quote the girl next too me “what the hell is this, I need lyrics in the songs I listen too.” hmmm so lost. When birthday girl Pegz lead the vocals it was particularly lovely. It seemed just as they got warmed up and people stared paying attention it was time for them to exit stage left.
Josh Pyke was clearly the man the masses were here to see. Overzealous throngs engaged in premature screams and claps only to be met by an empty stage, however eventually the man of the moment bounded onto the stage and launched into Fed And Watered, screaming, yelling and crowd participation were clearly the recipe of the night. Josh seemed genuinely amused by the crowd knowing word for word to his songs from the get go. Lines On Palms, Sew My Name and Buttons followed, playful banter between Josh and the adoring crowd intermingled between songs proving he really is the affable guy you could sit and have a beer with or introduce to your mum.
Ear piecing screams from young girls that reached decibels that only dogs could hear and a gentlemen/bogan who tried ever so hard to get Josh to perform at this years Falls Festival were met with polite “We may have some screamers here but not going to Falls man, going to stay at home and read a good book.” carried on to one of the most unusual moments of the night, crowd surfing, which came during the stunning Vibrations In The Air one of Pyke’s softer elegant songs, and clearly an “awesome” crowd surfing tune, well some guy thought so, perhaps the same one who thought he could convince Josh to appear at Falls.
He acknowledged that when people come to a gig they “want to hear all the old favourites” but considering he was on a mini tour to promote his soon to be released second album Chimneys Afire he mixed a good bunch of old and new. Bursting into current single Lighthouse, Pyke was greeted by a rapturous applause, the crowd seemed to be waiting with baited breath for the chorus, he had highlighted earlier “everyone loves a good swearword” and it was as if Adelaide was salivating to yell “Fuckers” (which has been PC’ed for commercial radio play to “others”), they sung it with all their might leaving Josh to smirk at this. Ably supported by a great bunch of musicians, this review could not be complete without recognizing the skill of Jason Tampake from Firekites whose violin was superbly evocative adding yet another dimension to Pyke’s music.
As the night drew to a close all too quickly, future single Make Me Happy and _Middle Of The Hill_rounded out the encore. Middle Of The Hill seemed to make the surrounding audience break into a spontaneous charades- like mime of the lyrics, quite amusing really.
Leaving the stage with the crowd still wanting to get their last drop of blood from the Josh Pyke stone, you could not help but be a happy camper feeling you got your monies worth. Pyke is clearly a talented musician and songwriter and judging by tonight’s preview of his new material Pyke’s ship is sailing on the right path.
reb_wigg
said on the 25th Sep, 2008