CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.

The evening commenced at the Jade Monkey, with Kittyhawk opening proceedings. If you are unaware (and we weren’t), Kitty Hawk is the side project for David and Caitlin from Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire!, and couldn’t be any more different, unless they started a death metal band (Which they should…. Just putting it out there…..). Sparse, relaxed, and confident, they impressed the crowd with their beautiful interplay and overlapping of vocals, which reminded us of the interplay between Thom Yorke and PJ Harvey. Yes, they were that good. We hadn’t really listened to F!SRF! for donkeys, and were really impressed with their progression as songwriters. Equal parts White Stripes, Art of Fighting and Mazzy Star, they are apparently recording at the moment, and we are both excited to see what they come up with in the studio. Great set.

Ahhhhhhh… The Sea Thieves. There are many reasons to love The Sea Thieves. For starters, the Thieves (and Jade Monkey proprietors), Zac and Naomi are made of candy. No, really! They really are. It’s true. Secondly, Zac is just a little bit magic. How else can you explain his ability to make a household saw, and a ukulele sound not just good, but beautiful. It’s magic, I tell you. Magic.

For the uninitiated, The Sea Thieves weave a spell around their audiences with incredibly sparse, stripped-back acoustic pop in the manner of Sparklehorse or The Reindeer Section, made lush with shiteload of reverb. The result is a bunch of beautiful tunes that tuck you in at night and kiss you gently on the cheek. It’s absolutely gorgeous stuff. Unfortunately Thief Naomi has Baby Very Much Still On Board, and had to pass the ukulele over to Zac’s former The Miltons and Bergerac bandmate, Jed Palmer. Check out The Sea Thieves’ debut album, Hiding in the Shade and pop it on next time it’s a very hot day, or a very cold day, or if you feel like a hug. Heartbreaker Zac promises a followup “some time next year”. Tease.

Unless you were in a coma during the mid-90’s, you know Angie Hart. Yeah, you remember: she of Frente and Accidentally Kelly St (try and get that song out of your head now, suckers). For those of you who were crushing madly on Ms Hart Back in the Day, you will be pleased to know that Angie just gets more and more beautiful as the years pass. Playing songs from her new album, Eat My Shadow, accompanied by just an acoustic guitar played admirably by a gentleman introduced only as Greg, the set was sometimes soulful and sad, and frequently cheeky. There were a handful of Frente tunes (“not many: by request!”) and it was worth rocking up just to see this beautiful girl smile. Her newer tunes were perfect with just a single guitar, the sparseness giving her incredible voice the space it needed to melt everybody in the room into an indistinguishable puddle of goo, boys and girls alike. We understand that sometimes you see artists in a venue that are much smaller than they might be used to, but for us it makes for a much more special night. It’s nice being able to thank her for a particular song personally, and it gives the performer a chance to interact with the crowd in a way that they normally wouldn’t. Also, she’s much prettier close up. Yes, Dougie was one of those who was crushing madly on Ms Hart back in the day. Thank you Angie, please come back soon. We’ll bring tea and biscuits next time.

Before we go, a brief word on gig etiquette. We understand that some of you don’t actually get out to support live music very often, maybe you spend your weekends watching cover bands at the Casino or The Alma so we’re going to be helpful and explain it to you: unless you are in a wheelchair or on crutches, it is never ever acceptable to sit your arse down and demand that people standing in front of you move out of your way. If you can’t see, stand up and join the real fans in front of the stage, you ignorant, arrogant and rude people. Especially considering Angie asked you very, very nicely to come closer and enjoy the show. We did, and you should have too.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.