The Panics + WASO @ Kings Park(20/02/10)

Wed 24th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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The Pioneer Women’s Memorial Fountain at Kings Park is a stunning backdrop for an outdoor concert. The long sloping grassy banks softly curve around a large duck pond and fountain. The stage sits at one end of the pond, with the stage lights casting an array of lights dancing across the shimmering pond waters.

The stage itself is a work of art. The orchestra sits across the back of the stage on a series of raised platforms, flanked impressively overhead by a large acoustic shell shaped like a giant potato crisp. The acoustic shell doubles as a massive projector screen for the lighting display and Pink Floyd-esque swirling kaleidoscopic patterns.

Fresh from the release of her EP How To Tame Lions, the lonely figure of Megan Washington playing solo on the piano looked somewhat lost on the massive stage. Telling a tale of a Berliner woman who fell in love with a gorilla at the Berlin Zoo and visited it for four hours every day, Washington’s set was highlighted by a beautiful version of Clementine and a cover of Rufus Wainright’s Want. Washington’s set provided dreamy but relatively bland dinner music for the picnicking crowd, who clapped politely between songs.

The crowd itself was a mixed bag. Tuxedo’d 40-something VIPs with champagne glass in hand swanned around groups of flannelette-clad indie kids downing beers. For most, it seemed that you were either a fan of WA Symphony Orchestra or a fan of The Panics but not both, and tonight’s crossover of genres was something of a novelty.

WASO and Kalamunda’s favourite sons The Panics soon took to the stage, and it was evident from the outset that the Perth-born five piece were completely awestruck at hearing their tunes accompanied by a 70-piece orchestra and a member of Augie March, about whom Jae Laffer quipped “He keeps reminding us that he did two gigs here… he’s a prick!”

Opening with a nervous version of Southern, the shakiness in Laffer’s voice underscored the occasion “Good evening, I can’t believe there’s an orchestra behind us tonight, it’s incredible”.

As the band relaxed, they managed to joke around in front of their hometown crowd, with guitarist Jules Douglas joking that men yelling from the crowd were in fact shouts from his mother “Yeah, thanks for that Mum”.

Creaks and Something In The Garden sounded twice the size with the addition of the orchestra and pleased those that were familiar with The Panics’ more recent material, but the set soon ventured into old territory with The General Calling, My Best Mistake and Sleeps Like A Curse. The orchestra added new levels of harmony and melody to The Panics’ songs, which are already laden with intricate arrangements.

One Too Many Itches was achingly beautiful, with the synthesiser-sampled orchestra that features on the record replaced with the real thing. It was a spine-tingling moment to see the acoustic guitar led track backed by the orchestra, as the lights dimmed and danced across the duck pond and the band moved into This Day Last Year, which Laffer reminded the audience was written in their house in Mt Lawley when they were only 17.

Guitarist Drew Wooten was in his element, dancing on the spot with his unique puppet-on-a-string dance. He was lost in a world of his own melodies in Cash and Twin Sister, before playing a snarling solo in Cruel Guards.

Predictably, and to the delight of the more casual fans of The Panics in the crowd, the set returned to material off their latest album Cruel Guards, including the title track and Live Without, which saw the orchestra conducted to take a large swig of beer to mark the occasion. The main set closed with Don’t Fight It, with its sampled refrain again played by the orchestra which gave the track a new life and energy.

Returning for a nostalgic encore of Get Us Home and closed the night with a delicate acoustic-lead version of In Your Head, The Panics reiterated their wide-eyed amazement at the occasion “When we wrote these songs, we had no idea we’d be playing them in our home town, in the main park, with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra.”

And it is indeed true – for a band that has risen through the ranks from playing bottom of the bill at Perth’s local pubs to headlining a glorious event at Kings Park with a 70-piece orchestra, it was a well deserved night of nostalgic reflection on how far The Panics have come. Here’s hoping the melodic potential of their songs which was realised in its full glory tonight will inspire The Panics to keep on flying the flag for the Perth music scene.

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