British Sea Power @ ManningBar, Sydney (20/02/10)

Wed 24th Feb, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Australian music press has been berated in the past for supplying too much coverage to the latest flavours-of-the-month from the Motherland, and many of those complaints are well-placed. Flash in the pan acts don’t deserve any more inches on street press and music websites because of two simple reasons. The first being that we have enough local talent to fill a couple of encyclopaedia volumes; the second being that we miss the bands the hype machine gleefully skips for pointless hitmakers. Case in point: British Sea Power.

Here for the other, smaller, non-black-clad-fan-drawing festival happening over the past weekend, the band has always lived within niche crowds, often shunned for their likeness towards their predecessors – their album Do You Like Rock Music? was awarded a rating of “U.2” by Pitchfork. They’ve became known amongst their fans for not only their incredible musical prowess but also their memorable live shows. One of the most recognisable traditions – one shared by fans at tonight’s gig – is dressing in unique fashions, often with military uniforms (something they did years before Coldplay pinched the idea) and loose foliage popping out from their clothing.

Their support seems to have been picked on the night of the performance, in retrospect. Daisy Tullen, the violinist for hype-band-for-the-past-three-years Bridezilla felt uncomfortable alone on stage. Admitting early that it was probably her first solo show, she tried to keep our attention through atmospheric guitar and violin loops and a beautiful voice that should definitely make an appearance beside Holiday Sidewinder at some point. But a poorly-rehearsed performance will always come off on the wrong end of the scale, and every juvenile mistake, from stopping and re-starting songs to getting the headliners name wrong (“British Sea Powder?”) was made. Inexperienced, but not without potential.

The beginning of British Sea Powe’s headline set didn’t live up to their potential. Songs, mostly off Do You Like were played tightly, beautifully but without enthusiasm. There’s no denying any of the band has and talent, it’s just they couldn’t translate it into any meaningful energy.

Then something intangible happened and what was just another band playing indie rock boringly turned into an energetic storm. Vocalist Yan lost his inhibitions, putting away the guitar and screaming into the microphone. The instrumentals took a turn for the deep and atmospheric, and the crowd began jumping, dancing and throwing leaves onstage. The backline curtains parted to reveal a screen upon which a montage of ducks played whilst the instrumental The Great Skua was played to close the main set and. The audience was captivated.

The band returned, taking a moment to thank their violinist Abi Fry before three more songs that continued their sudden wild passion. To add to it all, Guitarist Noble began to tape crowd members to band members, to the dismay of security and their tour manager, causing their finale The Spirit of St. Louis to become a hopping, jumping, ludicrous affair.

British Sea Power has never been a hype band and they probably never will be. That’s fine. But what they are is a great lot who, at the right moment, can put on a great show. Too bad not many other, larger acts can’t say the same.