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Proof that youngsters don’t care about politics, or that Little Birdy is among the hottest rock-pop property around at the moment? Whatever, Canberra’s youth snubbed Malcolm Turnbull’s Budget reply to get a taste of the Perth darlings, touring nationally with their new album Confetti. Had the kids known Turnbull was flogging a 12.5% hike on cigarette excise they might have chosen differently and rioted in the streets.

There was a West-Australian theme from the start as Felicity Groom played to an already full venue. Between throaty vocals and her steely chromaharp she put out an eerie folk sound a bit reminiscent of Melanie or Joan Baez, though with a gravitas not so profound. – œFlick’ as we’ll call her, was missing half her usual band The Black Black Smoke, and though Andrew Ryan provided good support on guitar, she needed a bigger sound. The whole package will benefit if she can get the coin together to take the whole crew on the road next time.

Oh Mercy have done time in Canberra before. Their school bag of short catchy tunes is growing and so is their profile. Seemed Like A Good Idea is getting deserved airplay, and along with a song which had to be called I Couldn’t Let You Drown In A Foreign Town, it was a highlight of the set. Alexander Gow is a genuine front man, albeit a horrific denim-squeezer. Can’t wait – œtill the rest of the band catches up in the charisma stakes.

By 10:30 the crowd was restless. They had emptied their bladders, filled their beers, and well-and-truly run out of small talk. They wanted Katy Steele, and they got her. In full tail-clad pushed-up glory, Katy played the first verse of the single Brother, solo, before being joined on stage by the rest of Little Birdy. The sound was great from the get-go – after seven years playing together this band is tight.

The set rocked along with new songs, old songs, and lots – perhaps too much – of participatory handclapping. The big guns from 2004’s Big Big Love album, Relapse and Beautiful To Me came out to much screaming and most of the songs from Confetti sounded great. Run Run Run especially, is a great sell for the new direction of the new record. It’s rock’n’roll for sure, but it’s acoustic and earthy and Steele’s voice cuts through the mix in a beautiful way.

The exception to all this was Into My Arms. When you borrow song titles from people like Nick Cave you’ve got to be prepared for comparisons, and this one doesn’t measure up. Formulaic chord structures need strong melodies, and unique though Steele’s voice is, it can’t conceal their absence. Similarly it can’t compensate for piss-weak lyrics, and with a chorus that read “I don’t want to love you the same as before; I don’t want to hurt you the same as before…”, there was nowhere to look but down. That said, 99 per cent of the crowd didn’t seem to mind a jot and at least one of the toasted freshers standing nearby used this song to show his sensitive side by yelling in the ear of his date.

100 per cent were back onboard when the main set rounded off with 2007’s big single Bodies, and the encore with Confetti’s title track. Little Birdy is loaded with talent, and although they need to show a bit more humility in quiet towns like Canberra, the proverbial bandwagon will keep growing as it keeps rolling on this tour.

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