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The WAMi Saturday Spectacular Closing Party is a time for celebration of great West Australian Music. After the seriousness of the WAMi awards night and the scattering of gigs about town over the weekend, the closing party is a great opportunity to just enjoy a bunch of different nominees that are conveniently arranged to play one after the other over 3 stages just paces away from one another.

One of the first bands to play at the Amplifier stage were The Jackards. They were full of energy and guts with their unabashed pop/rock played by three great musicians, James Trewenack on bass, Tim Stacey on drums and Glenn Sarangapany on guitar (nominated for best instrumentalist). Go see them live for some fun, damn good music that you’ll want to tell your friends about afterwards, like the audience on Saturday.

Wandering out to the courtyard stage we were presented with a much mellower boy-girl duo. Pretty harmonies, songs about love and the like that were sweet and a little sad. The players were Xave Brown with Caitlin Dethridge but the crowd were still a little amped from The Jackards to appreciate the stripped back nature of their set.

Back at the Amplifier stage were Emperors. They are a band of guitars, bashing out garage/indie rock songs with harmonies afoot. Favourite Colours really stood out as the catchiest and most polished song of their set, perhaps this is due to it’s familiarity after Triple J’s attention and praise. It would be good to see if they can pump out another of its calibre.

First band on the Capitol stage were Arts Martial, who are four young boys with obvious talent and charm. Ladies were jigging and some could be recognised from previous gigs, so it seems they’ve developed a little following of groupies. They certainly have a few catchy singles and the looks to go into mainstream consciousness. Sing-alongs accompanied Dreams and Supernational and Sugar ended their set of danceable rock music.

Injured Ninja back at Amplifier were a different kettle of fish. Listening to them requires concentration and effort but they command this with their complexities of sound. At times manic, sometimes discordant but at all times intense, Injured Ninja captured the growing audience’s attention. The heavy bass, echoing vocals and resilient drumming moved through bodies from head to foot with serious vibrations giving all internal organs a work out. The sweat dripping from drummer Matt Bairstow was a testament to their intensity and their eagerness was obvious in the fact they managed to squash in playing an extra song (to the audience’s delight).

Then it was Umpire on the Capitol stage. After the unique effort of Injured Ninja, Umpire seemed a lot more conventional. The band played some honest pop/rock. They captured quite a few folks’ attention. Streamers was a familiar track and a good one at that.

Back to a higher level of intensity, Will Stoker and The Embers were assaulting the audience. Stoker’s vibrato stands out as an integral element to their sound (and probably his nomination as best male vocalist). His showmanship was usurped only by Tomas Ford later in the evening.

It was finally time for Jebediah to showcase a few new songs mixed into some golden oldies. Kevin Mitchell and co obviously love performing in this band, even if the singer is off on other jaunts every now and then. The crowd loved the opportunity to relive the good times of their old familiar songs like Wasted, Lino, Screw Up Your Life Again etc. They were in fine form and the crowd appreciated it with a little mosh pit starting and a couple boys trying to crowd surf. The new songs fit into their sound well and everyone at Capitol seemed like they’d be very happy to be seeing more of Jebediah in future.

And then it was time for the onslaught that is Tomas Ford. This time around he had a little sidekick, also suitably dressed providing some “usher shit”. He hung around for just one song then let Ford get on with the delicious craziness involved in his sets. Not many Australian men would get away with forcibly riding another man’s shoulders; singing into another man’s crotch; having crowd members carry his sweaty body in the air to the bar only to find he needed to be carried back again; or advising the crowd to sit down to be serenaded. Tomas Ford is simultaneously delightful and scary – no-one knows who his next victim will be and the audience’s reactions are part of the performance in itself.

To cap off the evening, French Rockets mellowed out the crowd with their atmospheric audio visual presentation. The music and lights were fitting and created a trance-like atmosphere. Spidery green and red disco lights and laser shapes were created whilst the musicians peacefully performed to a building ambience. It was at once pretty, dramatic and hypnotic, yet hard to describe to one who hasn’t experienced.

All in all it was a non-stop evening of fine local music and a delight to have it all served on a plate in an easy to negotiate venue. To have a gig of acts with such differing styles was refreshing and people’s heads were bulging from the greatness of acts to follow up on.

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