See what you missed in Stuo’s gallery

For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure, Fremantle Arts Centre is a beautiful venue, with delicately lit deciduous trees set against a limestone building, the grounds scattered with mosaics and stone-carved art, and plenty of grass to park your picnic blanket; it was really a great setting for a little bit of funky psychedelia.

Tame Impala were to play a sold out show, but the garden didn’t seem to be overly crowded. This was both good and bad; it was nice to have room to move, but a packed crowd, surrounded by sound always serves to highlight the mood of the music.

Support act Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke was definitely not lacking in talent. Groom’s gorgeous growling vocal timbre, which was definitely reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick, was backed up by some superb music, pulling out all manner of instrumentation, including violins, a saw and a crazy contraption that may or may not be some kind of harp. But the performance was just missing some magic, the performance just seemed a little dull, with most of the songs sounding too similar. But that may be an overly harsh assessment; perhaps it was the wrong setting, maybe they’re more suited to playing an intimate lounge, where the sound can bounce off walls instead of an outdoors venue, with the famous Fremantle Doctor blowing across the stage and stealing the sound. Whatever the problem, the music was unfortunately a little uninspiring, maybe all the more disappointing because you could hear the potential for something great.

We found out pretty early on that sickness has plagued the tour, with The Silents having to cancel, the usual tour manager and sound tech absent and the Impala voices were definitely strained, although this didn’t necessarily make the sound bad, it’s the kind of music lends its self to a little bit of swine-flu-huskiness, but vocalist Kevin Parker’s often commented upon similarity to Lennon was sadly missing. Parker croaked to the crowd “A great sickness has come upon Team Impala” (ok, he probably said TAME Impala, but it’s kind of cute to think that he refers to the collective band and management as “Team Impala” so let’s just go with it.)

The show was a constant pounding beat of the drum that had everyone firmly planted in The Zone, you know, that zone where you bend at the knees just slightly over and over and nod your head just slightly over and over in a completely involuntary movement… to see a whole crowd of people doing it in unison shows they touched that same place in everyone’s brain.

They pulled out some pretty amazing blues riffs, which held the promise of something that truly special, but they just seemed to be lacking the passion…and maybe it was because they were sick, but you just can’t help but want to hear the notes bent a fraction more, to be held for a microsecond longer, to really make the music come alive.

Of course they were complete bastards for finishing their set with their cover of the most annoying song of 1997; Remember Me?, knowing full-well it would be stuck in our collective heads for days on end. It’s just lucky they’ve done such a good job of it.

One little gripe about the event its self; the gates opened at 6:00, when most of us weren’t even home from work yet; with the gig finishing at 10pm. Now this is probably because it’s a residential area, but it meant that not only did most people miss out on the start, but some poor fans who didn’t think to check the start time only saw three or four songs of the band they paid to see, and most likely missed out on their favourite tracks; Half Full Glass of Wine and Sundown Syndrome, which were played early on in the set. Luckily though, it was only $20 and they’re Perth boys, so should be back again, hopefully soon! But considering the price and the time of the show, the thought occurs that it could have been a great start to an evening; instead of sitting around at home drinking and waiting until the pubs/clubs get busy enough to be interesting, maybe more shows at this time might get people out and about a little earlier, and get to enjoy some great live shows before their usual evening of dodging drunk teenagers and enduring cover bands. At any rate, maybe more people will be checking their gig guides a little more thoroughly in the future.

Relive the highlights in Stuo’s Gallery