It was an unusually balmy night and Little Birdy’s second stop on their ‘theatre’ tour of Australia was the beloved Forum. It’s possible I was caught out in taking ‘theatre’ a bit too literally, genuinely surprised that only a small array of lights decked out the stage upon arrival. Nevertheless, as many punters will attest, The Forum needs little help to provide a special evening out.

Playing to an unfortunately scarce crowd, first support act Hungry Kids Of Hungary made up for the space with their perfect brand of feel-good pop-rock. Good Times, starting as something reminiscent of an Wild-West saloon soundtrack, soon shifted into an entirely new gear, a direction that proved refreshing and creative. Dean McGrath and Kane Mazlin steered the ship, alternating vocals throughout the set, combining beautifully with ultra-precise harmonies. Paired drum hits opened their best song, Scattered Diamonds (which seems to be getting a decent bit of air time on both TV and radio), and by the end of the song, I was won over. Their time on stage was short, but sweet, and a little Shins-esque, putting their own original spin on often tired pop-sensibilities endured time and time again. All in all, an uplifting experience.

Red Riders cast a considerably darker, moodier tone on the evening, the stage lighting working overtime to full effect. Not that its anything to be too critical of, but I was astounded that frontman Alexander Grigg felt the need to point out most of the songs they had were in the ‘easy’ key of B-minor. The downside of such a comment, of course, was that given ten to fifteen minutes into their set, it was a pretty obvious truth. In a nice twist of irony, Ordinary broke the mould and solidified itself as the band’s stand-out song, but that’s not saying much for the rest of the material. Its fairly academic rock and roll, and the occasional mumbling of vocals weren’t ever going to help the situation. I noticed a small contingent of fans pressed against the stage barrier cheering wildly. Is this what people like? I just find it a bit bland. I can’t really fault their performance – my only grievance is what they’re performing.

Little Birdy, fronted by a particularly stunning Katy Steele, made a statement right from the beginning, with the title-track of their latest album Confetti: they were going to play the new stuff, and they were going to play a lot of it. I wasn’t really complaining, especially when Perth’s own followed it up with the Motown-inspired Summarize, which had the whole crowd clapping along in no time. Steele exuded a certain confidence and energy, strutting about the stage like a true show-woman, encouraging all in attendance to get involved in voice.

The other members really take a backseat, as Steele demands your attention, successfully. The singles, as you’d expect, were the stand-out tracks, but the rest didn’t quite measure up. You could easily identify the filler, but by the same token, you could just as easily embrace their best – and Little Birdy are at their best when Steele’s voice takes flight. This was evident in the oh-so-country Beautiful To Me, as well as the stripped-back cover of Aretha Franklin’s Do Right Woman. An overwhelming request for an encore was granted, and the band ended on a high with Relapse and Bodies.

It was an evening with hits and misses – ‘scattered diamonds’, dare I say – in which Hungry Kids highlighted, underlined and italicized themselves as a band to watch (quite literally). Red Riders didn’t really appeal, but they continue to gain fans and momentum. And the headline act, Little Birdy – well, the outpouring of applause at the end of the night said it all, in an official Melbourne welcome for a band obviously much-loved.

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