The New Pornographers & AnHorse @ The Annandale Hotel,Sydney (12/10/08)

Wed 15th Oct, 2008 in Gig Reviews

Up first were Newcastle five-piece Like…Alaska. Although looking a little disorganised at first, when these guys built up a little momentum they were unstoppable. Like…Alaska proved to be very competent openers for a unique night of indie pop, as their short but powerful set blew away all of those lucky enough to arrive in time to see them.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Like…Alaska live show is their well timed use of three-part harmonies to create intense crescendos. The standout tracks for me were the ones that really took advantage of the band’s ability to carefully construct sophisticated and layered music by contrasting female, male, loud and soft vocals in the same song. This often resulted in sound with obviously disparate influences, something like Dashboard Confessional crossed with Rise Against crossed with Missy Higgins. Sounds weird, I know, but it seems to work quite well. I look forward to the impending album release.

The Brisbane-based two-piece An Horse took to the stage next and played a solid set of well-crafted pop tunes. Whilst their sound is easily accessible and executed confidently in a live setting, I feel as though they didn’t quite live up to the hype I’d been hearing about them recently. The band’s personable attitude towards the audience was endearing, but I found my attention straying from the stage frequently due to the repetitive nature of many of their songs.

When The New Pornographers arrived on stage, the already swelling crowd packed in even further to accommodate the last arrivals to the sold-out show. The Canadian pop gurus kicked off their sunny, energetic set without delay, powering through a brilliant run of with material spanning their whole career thus far.

Old favourites were complimented nicely with tracks from their new album and fourth full length release, Challengers. A very appreciative crowd lapped up every offering presented by the band and hung on every word of the charismatic frontman, A.C. Newman. Banter with the crowd seemed like the name of the game with all three bands throughout the night. The New Pornographers followed suit and entertained the punters with some light-hearted jokes about The Church frontman Steve Kilbey and The Wiggles, among other things.

Mr Newman wasted no time getting through the tracks, finishing off the night by orchestrating a great cover of The Electric Light Orchestra’s Don’t Bring Me Down. A brief but energetic encore then left the packed venue salivating for more.