Cassette Kids & Lily Allen @The Tivoli, Brisbane(08.06.09)

Thu 11th Jun, 2009 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT THE PICS OF THIS SHOW RIGHT HERE ON FL

Cassette Kids do their damned finest to entertain the already hyped, mostly female crowd before the main attraction hits the stage. For the most part, they succeed. Frontwoman Katrina Noorbergen channels Kim Wilde, Deborah Harry, Sneaky Sound System’s Connie Mitchell and, in the moments she warbles off key, Natalie Bassingthwaite. Having put on a killer set at Parklife, I find their set somewhat lacking in the Tivoli’s closed surrounds, but the thumping bass and squelchy synths are still present in You Take It and Acrobat.

OK – let me get to the point. Yes, Lily Allen and friends put on a great show. No it wasn’t mind blowing. Why not? Well, musical content, for starters. As for what percentage of tonight’s crowd is here for the celebrity factor – the jury’s still out.

Lily’s black-clad backing band snaps into action with Everyone’s At It and the girl herself makes a dramatic entrance as a larger-than-life silhouette before the curtain drops and strobe lights go mental.

She too is dressed in black, her diminutive presence allowing her vocals to take centre stage in what is a surprisingly intimate show given that ticket demand could have filled a much larger venue.

I Could Say sees the band lit in full multicolour splendour and is musically one of the set’s stronger tracks despite the bass overpowering throughout.

By track three Lily’s jaw dropping introduction is firmly in the rear view mirror and the set veers into the weird slow-motion Zorba terrain of Never Gonna Happen, heightened by the primary colour light show plodding across huge L – I – L -Y letters on the back screen.

Lily’s vocals and her band’s musicianship are spot on tonight – and I suspect they always are, but for this reviewer it’s the strength of her songs that span the gamut of great all the way down to cringeworthy.

Mid set highlights include Oh My God from Mark Ronson’s Versions album, Chinese, 22 and LDN segueing into an awesome Back To The Start.

More forgettable moments are the, ahem, politically charged Fuck You , a semi-acoustic He Wasn’t There and Him – which isn’t bad, just drab.

The dinky carousel cheese and lowbrow theme of Not Fair nearly does my head in, but it bothers the crowd none. It seems appreciation throughout the set increases with the crudeness of Lily’s lyrics.

Who’d Have Known is dedicated to “all the new couples who still like each other” and is the closest thing to a Zippo moment (no mention of Lily’s – œprop’ cigarette) in the age of nonsmoking venues.

Lily fans certainly get bang for their buck tonight as she plays the hits from album number one and the entirety of number two over the course of the evening. No prizes for guessing the encore as we predictably wait for Smile – with a bangin’ drum n bass / dub breakdown and Lily on handheld Kaoss pad – and lead single The Fear from sophomore effort It’s Not Me, It’s You.

With nowhere else to go, Lily wraps it up with a cover of Britney Spears’ Womanizer. Am I the only one that could think of a million better songs to exit on, and leaves thinking Lily may be a one trick pony?

No Lily, I don’t think it’s just me, but the satisfied trots of girls exiting the Tivoli tell me I’m in the minority.

SET LIST

Everyone’s At It
I Could Say
Never Gonna Happen
Oh My God
Him
Who’d Have Known
LDN
Back To The Start
He Wasn’t There
Chinese
22
Not Fair
Fuck You
Smile
The Fear
Womanizer