Grizzly Bear, Here We GoMagic, Kid Sam @ The Palais,Melbourne (27/07/2010)

Wed 28th Jul, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The Palais must be the perfect venue for them – in Australia at least: expansive beauty, intricate architecture, but with a warm sense of intimacy and enough grit in the walls to invite the indie masses. To here, on their second visit this annum, Grizzly Bear came; filling all edges of the palatial venue with the sounds of one of the best bands in the world.

Kid Sam were there too, sparking off the night with their Melbourne-cum-antiquity thing. Maybe they should always be support at the Palais, their music too filled with enough arcane & elegant melodies to sate the intellectual ambitions of the walls. With time we should see ol’ Kid Sam become something even more strange and powerful, an enticing prospect.

Next were another truly exciting support (rare in Melbourne these days), an American band coming along as tour mates, Here We Go Magic. Having pulled away from their show at the East Brunswick Club a month earlier, this marked their first time in Australia. Perturbed perhaps by the stolid seated audience, they delivered a fantastic performance; the buzzing, flat textures of their tunes really taking on new life live. The final song built gradually on indecipherable word-streams from the other four members and as the crescendo pulsed, all we could see was *Luke Temple*’s purple, screaming silhouette tearing the set to a conclusion that was deep and intense.

A swag of new fans secured and a powerful and exciting prelude for the next bag of chaps to come on stage, from Brooklyn and known as Grizzly Bear. Happy to be back, these “friends of Australia, for life”, Ed Droste put it (big commitment).

The set kicked to a start with Southern Point, a thickened bassline hammering it along. The first high peak was with Knife, Chris Taylor given a wispy vocal LFO for his sublime harmony. The song finished on the four wonderful voices, each back framed by a yellow spotlight that sent those chords up into the heights of the beautiful roof above. Sadly, the bass-wrangler’s voice failed him later on, for everyone’s favourite Grizzly song, Two Weeks. Yes, that melody! It was a shame, but at the least it made way for a pretty funny joke about his VB habit.

Showcase, the only mention of their debut album, was given a reworking “just for Australia” (they really are our friends!), and it became heavy and intense. Under a ghostly-lit hessian drape, they rocked out the most sinister example of their usually so-tender arrangements.

The only qualm could be that this show looked made for the festival circuit, with more rocking stompers than delicate introspections. For Splendour, I’m sure they’re saying “bring on the stomp” but for the hushed, awed crowd at the Palais, intimacy was where it was at, where it should have been. The real highlights here were the incredible Foreground, gifted with lighting that added real weight, and then the encore. In which we heard the skeleton of a new song (“Old man, watch your step”, for future reference!) and a subtle and becalmed rendition of All We Ask . These quiet and gentle moments spoke more in tune with the reverent crowd, as well as that revered venue: a wonderful end to the night.

Seeing Grizzly Bear will always be a special thing for fans, giving personal access to those carefully worked songs, an experience to take warmth into any future listening of their wonderful albums. At times the connection was missed, but despite that, seeing these fellows a-live is still an awe-inspiring experience.

CHECK SOME OF THE BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE