Until relatively recently, Augie March have been the underdogs of the Australian music scene. Though, with the recent successes of the band’s last LP, Moo, You Bloody Choir, there are many high expectations floating about for the band to produce the goods yet again with this year’s Watch Me Disappear. In conjunction with Triple J, Augie March presented their latest material, along with some older goodies to a small and very lucky audience; and in the gorgeous surrounds of the upper Forum Theatre no less. The intimate seated gig proved that the band still have the ability to transfix audiences, with some well received punch being added along the way.
It’s a rare opportunity for fans to see their favourite acts in the upper theatre of Melbourne’s Forum, and for the Augie March crowd the atmospheric venue could not have been more appropriate. Perhaps a little nostalgic for some members of the band, drummer David Williams reminisced about his more mischievous adventures in the building, hanging with the gargoyles in the theatre’s high reaches. The fact the gig was seated was also proved massive plus, as everyone had equal opportunity to see; whilst the sound was never going to be an issue as the theatre’s acoustics are magnificent.
The first half of Augie March’s set list was entirely new material. Watch Me Disappear kicked off the proceedings and true to form, Glenn Richards was immediately picking out the faults – not that the crowd seemed to mind, or more to the point, notice that much. Two new tracks, Lupus and Pennywhistle followed, each showing the band’s greater attention to live harmonies. Each member of the band, along with their guest member Dan Kelly provided fantastic vocal backing to Richards (who sings all of the harmonies on the record himself) which meant the live sound could capture more of what is on the new record. The addition of a four-piece horn section also gave the band extra flare, with tenor and alto saxophone, trumpet and trombone helping out on new numbers like The Devil In Me.
Augie March’s new material showed the band to still be in fine form; certainly as far as performance is concerned. A country sound lingered over many of the new songs, whilst the quick tempo of City of Rescue and much rockier The Glenorchy Bunyip certainly showed the band testing some newer avenues. Another new song, The Slant was certainly a highlight as Richards played with minimal accompaniment (at times just his guitar), allowing his voice to completely captivate the crowd. The old favourite, There Is No Such Place, then featured, with a rather opposite take – the usually minimalist track opting for a more colourful ensemble of the whole band before eventually reverting back to just Richards and his guitar.
Amongst the showcase of new material, Augie hits such as The Cold Acre, One Crowded Hour and This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers made their usual appearances; the last of the three taking heavy advantage of guest horn section. Along with the usual tracks came the familiar behaviour of the band, including Richards’ obvious frustration and requests to restart songs – behaviour that had Williams remark that the audience were lucky to have a gig and rehearsal in one. Random discussions about which reservoir was their favourite, impersonations of Paul Stanley from KISS and cracks about Kelly’s hair being released from jail kept the crowd laughing between tracks, though it was Kelly’s remark that he was there “to make everything alright” in response to the band jokingly bickering among themselves that won best call.
An encore performance saw Richards lose his own words in Just Passing Through though the basically flawless and entrancing The Night Is A Blackbird soon made everyone forget about any mishaps. The track seemed the best way they could have wound out an outstanding set. Drawing close to the two hour mark, the band opted for Watch Me Disappear once again; making sure the television crew had the best version to use. Speaking of which, Triple J’s Zan Rowe announced that the gig would be getting released on DVD, though not before it’s shown on ABC on November 24.
