Wolf & Cub, Van She @Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne(12/2/09)

Mon 16th Feb, 2009 in Gig Reviews

To kick start the gig Van She hit the stage. It’s kind of odd seeing a indie-rock-electro support a stoner rock act, especially at an outdoor stage which itself was surrounded by a sea of kids with picnic rugs, but it worked out pretty well. The band noticed this and made a quip about making it an acoustic show, which wouldn’t have been as good as the show they did put on. They hit out with tracks such as Changes and Virgin Suicides, but sadly saw quite enthusiasm until they played Strangers which almost instantly resulted in a dancing crowd for the rest of their set.

Next up Wolf & Cub took to the stage. Speaking of the stage, it has undoubtedly got to be the most ironic venue that they’ll ever play, being the Melbourne Zoo and all. Unless they end up playing an old Wolf & Cub film set. Early on singer/guitarist Joel Byrne started on a pissy rant before correcting himself and getting on with things, just like Wolf & Cub’s performance. They hit things off with the single One To The Other, which carries over well enough from the recorded version. Also making an early appearance was fan favourite This Mess, which was worked over with a drummer picking of a sax which gave it a fine first album King Crimson feel – including an unfortunately atonal no-wave-ish sax solo at the end. What’s really unfortunate is that the band started to lock in tight around This Mess. Sadly even when they hit it off the guitar parts were constantly under threat of being drowned out by the rest of the band, especially by the bass. Having said that when they ended up putting on a decent show, before finally finishing up with Vessels.

But hey, a change to check out two decent live acts plus butterflies, elephants and giraffes is more than you’ll get at your average gig.

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