Little Birdy @ The GovernorHindmarsh, Adelaide (24/05/08)

Sun 31st May, 2009 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.

Whether you agree or disagree that Little Birdy have hit the big time with their most recent effort Confetti, a complete ticket exhaustion of one of Adelaide’s biggest musical venues undoubtedly stands as a benchmark that they’ve come a long way from garage days in Perth. And good for them, I say!

Performing at the Governor Hindmarsh on a soggy Sunday night, despite the undesirable weather conditions, the crowd had still kept their spirits. Opting for inside rather than the normally packed-out beer garden, the rain trickled away on the silver tables outside while we stood in the warm waiting to have our ears caressed by the mantras of Katy Steele.

Due to some public transport issues (running to my bus stop during a torrential downpour of rain and missing the darn thing), I didn’t get to catch the first support band. Luckily, I arrived just in time to see Oh Mercy. For some reason, I can’t help but envision a greasy-haired emo band everytime I hear see this group’s moniker written on paper. Thankfully this couldn’t be further from the truth, as their set quickly proved.

As yet another band riding the indie-country wave, Oh Mercy’s dreamy ballads and bounding melodies were a fantastic choice for a Sunday night, not to mention doubling as a Little Birdy support. With one acoustic, a flipped upside-down Stratocaster, a “Russian Scientist”(sic) bass player and a wash of harmonica, they played well and there was very little you could fault them on. TThe only con was perhaps the singer’s consistent commentary between songs, which began to wear you down after a while. “This song’s about Canberra, it’s got really good roundabouts” and an anecdote about an eagle plucking up a lamb from a field were just a few examples of his mid-set banter.

Around 11pm we had Little Birdy. Walking on stage, sharply dressed, was the enamouring Katy Steele. This was my first Little Birdy show, and I was most eager to see how well she could hit those painfully high sopranos in person. And I tell you what, she’s got quite a voicebox on her. Opening with Brother from Confetti, the set then journeyed on through LB’s latest and greatest with various pickings from Hollywood and BigBigLove.

Highlights included Beautiful to Me, in which the entire band par Steele went off-stage, leaving the songstress with a pre-recorded drum machine and solo acoustics. “Before Little Birdy was Little Birdy,” she mused. She was a versatile front-woman, flittering about the stage from piano to guitar to a pop diva with raging charisma. Though the crowd seemed to like the new material, the old hits unquestionably incited the biggest cheers. Ending with an encore of Bodies, Don’t, Andy Warhol and Confetti, I can now cross Little Birdy off my list as bands to see and say I left satisfied.

In one sentence: set was tight, spirited banter between Katie and the crowd kept things interesting, unyielding amounts of flash photography got a bit tiring after a while (no FasterLouder photographers, I hope).

They churned our big, big loving hearts into confetti – bad puns and all.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.