Augie March @ The MetroTheatre, Sydney (30/10/08)

Sat 1st Nov, 2008 in Gig Reviews

As I waltzed away from the Metro high on the crest of There’s No Such Place, I was left torn. How do I review one of my favourite concerts in a long time whilst frustrated to the hilt with the petulance of a troubled frontman?

Kicking off with Dan Kelly and the Ukeladies, the night already had its Australian country/rock edge in great voice. Dan Kelly sings a brand of Australiana that just makes you smile, remembering all those family holidays to the far corners of this nation. A favourite of mine from the set was the upbeat Catholic Leader, a journey song of a nun and a priest who get it on and head for Queensland. It was priceless for a Catholic school kid like me. After all those years of being pinched by nuns, I finally get it.

Dan Kelly is a great showman. His charm isn’t lost in the larger rooms, which is a testament to his character and his skill. Similarly, the Ukeladies have found a great niche that the crowd really enjoyed.

Augie March then hit the stage starting with the title track from their latest album Watch Me Disappear. The band seemed very eager to get the new album out of the way, playing three songs from it straight off the bat, including first single Pennywhistle. The set was rollicking along nicely until frontman Glenn Richards brought the mope to the show.

The feeling was like being in a room with a friend who’s angry at you and you’re trying to get back on their good side. After a few rantings and f-bombs, the crowd almost felt obliged to make Richards feel welcome. Despite this curious act of crowd engagement, the set was marvellous. The drummer in particular made the crowd feel at home, with what I can only assume is the Augie March brand of comic relief to Richards’ troubled poet persona.

Filled with achingly beautiful songs and a great light show that saw one whole wall of the Metro lit up with Richards’ shadow, Augie March took the crowd on a whirlwind tour across their albums. Most of the songs, though, came from their earliest albums. One Crowded Hour was obviously played when the crowd were least expecting it. You can tell that whilst this song made the band commercially appetising, they don’t seem all that interested in continuing it. It’s almost as if they are awkward around their own success.

The set finished with a brilliant encore that lasted a good 35 minutes. Drowning Dream and This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers built and built into an almost explosive finale. These two led into the final number, There Is No Such Place. And it was beautiful. As everybody filed out of the Metro, there was no such place as the stage that night. It belonged to Glen Richards, and despite his personal frustrations, everybody else loved what he was doing.