The Touch, Fun Machine,Strangeways DJs @ Transit Bar,Canberra (2/3/10)

Sat 4th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

SEE THE GALLERY HERE

Ah, finally, Spring is sprung and the time for willingly leaving the house at night (sans neck scarves, gloves, beanies etc etc) has arrived. Which makes gig going all the better and dance floors all the warmer. Both won over the Transit Bar crowd on Thursday night, with Pyramid serving up an almighty threesome of Strangeways DJs, Fun Machine and Adelaide headliners, The Touch.

Locals Fun Machine officially opened the stage for the evening, producing a somewhat underwhelming set, but a solid one nonetheless. There was a strong dance floor presence, which is to be expected with such a band, and while the trio seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves, it was lacking the charisma of some of their other shows.

Crowd favourites like Nintendo In The Jungle got the usual whooping and cheering response, being delivered with cheek and cheer, but the disappointing thing was that it was very clearly a support slot and was treated as such. It must be said though, their craftsmanship as musicians is very much true, and it comes clearly across at every live show in a way that welcomes the crowd, not brags to it.

Returning to Canberra on the triumph of their last show and with new EP 1.1 in tow, The Touch was everything you could want on a Thursday evening and more. Proving their love for the nation’s capital by driving 13 hours to get here, even with their self-cited exhaustion, the set was a roaring success.

Lead singer Josh Moore held the crowd captivated exactly the way a front man should, bantering his way through microphone difficulties and robotically dancing between guitarists, all of whom held themselves pitch perfect and not a stylised hair out of place.

The few glitches there were actually worked to their advantage; showing that an imperfect set can still be an amazing one. The heavy handed drum pounds of Chad Hooper melded systematically with Moore’s hollowed vocals and frenetic riffs of guitarists Shane and Craig Lock and Justin Walkden, creating one overwhelming, gigantic buzz.

A perfect mix of old and new material, recent releases such as Block and Shots grabbed the attention of everyone in the room and by the end had all the hips swaying and arms flailing about.

The key difference of the night was the continuum after the bands were finished. Transit is one of those venues notorious for the mass exodus as soon as the headliners are exiting stage, but Strangeways DJs held onto the crowd with a vice-like grip; no one going anywhere. One classic moment of motown after another, mixed with some delightfully predictable pop saw the dance floor a thrashing frenzy for quite some hours.

A perfect end to a night can be reached in many ways, but hilarity is generally the best, and nothing does it better than near riot novelty dancing. The Touch hold down a post-gig dance floor like they’re Patrick Swayze’s illegitimate love children, inviting young and old to join in. The jeans might be tight, but they proved that they can body slam it with the best of the skin heads, and that’s definitely a good image to finish a night with and reason to hope they return again soon.

SEE THE GALLERY HERE