Augie March @ The Forum,Melbourne (29/08/09)

Sun 30th Aug, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Without the backing of the full band the sound of The Drones duo, Gareth Liddiard and Dan Luscombe, becomes semi acoustic folk. Not an unpleasant sound but hardly innovative or overly interesting. Liddiard’s vocals are the kind you either love or hate for their unusual quality and unfortunately for me I fall towards the latter.

Sounding like a cross between Bob Dylan and Tim Rogers, he tends to spit his words out rather than actually singing them, all the while his voice seems to continually be breaking. The crowd of over thirties seem appreciative cheering and clapping yet continue to hold loud conversations throughout the bands set. I may not be a fan, but talking over the band is just plain rude maybe once you reach a certain age you loose control of your mouth. The last two songs catch my interest the first playing with a catchy chorus of Your Acting’s Like the End of the World and Luscombe letting loose on the distortion on the final track. Not a bad act, but not amazing either.

Augie March started by launching into the sombre, lush soundscapes and poetic lyrics that they do best with The Hole in the Roof. In fact through out the show there was a definite skew towards earlier more introspective material from the first two albums. Sand outs being Maroondah Reservoir and The Drowning Dream early in the night. But it is not all slow melancholy as with the jaunty sea shanty Thin Captain Crackers. In a bold move they successfully combine styles with a rocked up version of There’s Something at the Bottom of the Black Pool. Over the blasting guitars Glen Richards putting forth Edgar Allen Poe like intones, “I don’t know these girls, I don’t trust these boys, And over there in the corner, there hangs a strange bird, sings a strange song but it won’t be heard.”

In fact his insecurities are raised more than once in the onstage banter, “I’ve got good memories of seeing bands here and bad ones of playing here, but we’re gonna try and rectify that,” to which drummer Dave Williams retorts, “You’re being negative again Glen.” It’s the banter between Richards and Williams that keeps the show lively and helps avoid altercations with the audience. For some reason Augie March are one of those bands that inexplicably attract hecklers and tonight is no different. When tuning between songs an audience member shouts, “Stop teasing us,” to which Richards simply says, “Fuck off… but hang around and fuck off… you know what I mean.”

Closing the first set with The Moth Ball from the Waltz EP is inspired. After which two encore sets follow including the beautifully wafting There’s No Such Place. The second encore begins with a stripped down band, just Richards, lead guitarist Adam Donovan and keyboardist Kiernan Box playing through a slowed down mournful version of This Train Will be Taking No Passengers. After this the full band including the four piece horn section return, though bizarrely bass player Edmond Ammendola dons a pair of oversized underpants which he wears for the remainder of the show.

This may be the last time we see Augie March as they enter a period of indefinite hiatus, so it is with great pleasure that the audience receives a two and half hour performance. Though it’s a shame then that the band feel obligated to play One Crowded Hour, the overrated song that brought them fame to close the night. Richards stated his dislike, “This songs shit, I hate it.” I’d have to agree, especially as the criminally underrated Asleep in Perfection doesn’t get a run. However, this is a minor quibble in what was possibly the bands best gig yet. Here’s hoping there are many more to come.