Ah yes, the flowers had started to welt, heart’s where emerging devoted and/or battered, and the single folk were trying to shake their hangover’s. Post Valentine’s Day, one road to recovery from the love sick calendar date was to head over to the Powerhouse. It offered a place to sit, have a drink and watch a safe bet gig for free. The vibe in New Farm was relaxed in the way every Sunday session should be.

As part of the free Live Spark presented gigs, Gentle Ben and His Sensitive Side opened the afternoon’s event with their own brand of dark “sugarcane” Aussie ballad rock. Firstly, it must be said that Ben Corbett on vocal duties, is a great performer. I have seen Corbett perform as part of SixFtHick as well, and this man delivers on time, every time. On a whole these guys are a tight set of performers. The bands lead guitarist Dylan McCormack (yes he is Dave’s brother) offered some easily digestible, yet satisfying guitar work. I reckon these guys sound a bit like a Pavlova made from Simon Bonney, Nick Cave and some chunks of bitter pineapple for cynical measure. A portion of the audience could be seen peeling away towards the exit come the end of Gentle Ben’s set.

His music’s a bit of fun. One can nearly be led to believe there is a point behind some of his songs, but not often. Regardless, Dave McCormack throws you into a little bubble gum shaped time machine, delivering a 90’s era pop rock sound that’s a little cheeky and playful. McCormack doesn’t take himself too seriously, which I like. Examples of which can be found in lyrics like “If you’re famous and you know it, sack your band”. He doesn’t seem to stray far from what worked for his former band Custard, but you get the vibe that he doesn’t care because he’s enjoying himself. Oh and yes, ears perked up when McCormick played Custard’s “Girls like that”. This seemed to be the only song played that got a genuine clap response from the crowd. Someone near me said “I love that song, don’t know much of his other stuff but”. I tapped my toes, and smiled.

Because the Live Spark gigs are all ages there were a few kids running around the place, which could have got on some nerves. The queue to get any service was a bit much. This is to be expected from future weekend afternoon gigs at the Powerhouse, because there are a few people in the bar facing the river not there for the gig. Someone’s kid had made it to one of the upper galleries surrounding the stage, from which they blew soapy bubbles down on punters below. This kind of said it all. Most of those left at the powerhouse after Gentle Ben and His Sensitive Side seemed like they would be just as happy to be there if the wiggles were on stage.