Manchester Orchestra,Philadelphia Grand Jury @ TheHifi Bar, Melbourne (27/7/09)

Fri 31st Jul, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Visually, Philadelphia Grand Jury look like a pair of cool, bearded fathers, and their wispy haired teenage son. Audibly, the Philly Jays are Sydney indie garage rock trio – completely giving of themselves and damn fine performers (and of course… not a father-son group).

Drumbeats and fun bass-lines power up Melbourne’s HiFi Bar, and this cool Monday evening begins to get a bit heated. With Berkfinger on vocals and guitar, Dan W Sweat on drums and MC Bad Genius on bass, Ready To Roll is an energetic opener to a pretty unbelievably energetic set full of mad and uncoordinated dance moves, sprays of slag and sweat, and spear tackles.

MC Bad Genius works the stage like an insane Grizzly Adams armed with a bass guitar as his weapon and the eyes of Jack Nicholson in The Shining. He scowls at the room with a murderous glare as he ‘hey’s’ to the beat in Going To The Casino. Dan W Sweat drums like a toddler on too many energy drinks, with natural rhythm and rock – œn’ roll edge. Berkfinger leads a tight band, providing some really solid vocals and a broad vocal range. The crowd erupts at each songs end – they seem unprepared for the quirky energy of these guys. Sentimental keys in The Good News proves diversity and songwriting intelligence and I Don’t Want To Party makes me want to do exactly the opposite.

The set ends with MC Bad Genius launching himself across the drumkit, spear tackling Dan W Sweat to the floor and taking over the drums himself. Berkfinger jumps off stage and walks easily through a parting (or frightened?) crowd to end his vocal rant in the faces of respecting audience members. The stage is a mess and when the sound stops, we are startled and excited by this quite dangerous finale and cheer in horrified joy. The Philly Jays are a riot!

So… the challenge for headlining Atlanta group, Manchester Orchestra, is to match the energy and performance of their support act. After half-an-hour of horrible interval music, the room darkens and the quintet emerges.

Opening song Shake It Out is quite electrifying. It sends shocks and rumbles through floors, walls and bodies, and their cohesive onstage chemistry is undeniable. Looking around, crowd members are yelling lyrics back at the stage like mirrors. Manchester Orchestra obviously have a dedicated Australian following who have been eagerly awaiting an Australian tour after the release earlier this year of the album, Mean Everything To Nothing.

Their sound is diverse. Some songs span genres in matters of seconds. From indie-pop to screamo, rock and emo – in the ‘emotional’ sense of the word. There are moments of head-banging and moments of lighter swaying – as one enthusiastic fan proves as he lights up in front of me. Hit by a wall of distorted guitar and heavy drum beat, our ears are drowning in a pool of sound. Usually not a big fan of those particularly whiny sounding vocals, Singer Andy Hull pulls it off without that could-be annoying edge. The band really give themselves to their sound in Pride and My Friend Marcus. Watching keyboardist Chris Freeman is particularly mesmerizing as he doubles over on his stool giving his body to the beat, completely absorbed in his own world of sound and seemingly oblivious to the audience. One Hundred Dollars and I Can Barely Breathe send waves of intensity through the room.

Between songs, Hull finds the time to have a good natter. He’s a natural crowd-pleaser – humorous, modest and charming. After coaxing the audience into uproarious laughter, applause and interaction, his idea of ‘improv night at the Hifi Bar coming up in a half-an-hour slot on the Comedy Channel’ seems viable. I’ve Got Friends is a crowd fave – unsurprisingly – and a Simon and Garfunkle cover mid-set provides some light relief from the band’s intense originals.

However dynamic, I find the set doesn’t entirely hold up. Hull’s solo encore version of I Can Feel A Hot One is so stripped back it fails to convey the emotional dynamics and kicks of the recorded version, losing that epic, anthem feel. The set seems very long, and die-hard fans will probably hate me for this, BUT – a few less songs would have refined and focused the set as a whole.

However, the final song of the evening somewhat amends this. Atmospheric reverb echoes around Hull’s perfected vocal dynamics and the band’s cohesive, emotional melodies come to a climax. A crowd sing-along soars clearly, even above the intense and powerful sound coming from the stage, and I am suddenly moved by the song’s pining nostalgia. The River is the night’s best.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE