Silversun Pickups, Papa vsPretty @ The Corner, Melbourne(28/09/2010)

Wed 29th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Opening the Corner stage to a very healthy sized crowd on Tuesday night were moody local kids, Papa vs Pretty, whose recent and heavy (no pun intended) exposure to radio and big deal of shows are placing their future in good stead indeed. Versatility in the set meant that all those who’d rocked up early to secure a spot for the headliner were kept consistently interested and subsequently, entertained; or at least they should have been – only a few rockin’ their toes in a crowd otherwise made of manikins.

Playing selections from their debut EP, Papa vs Pretty hit especially hard with their key track, Heavy Harm; a song, which like most of theirs, intrigues thanks firstly to Thomas Rawle’s bizarre vocal, secondly to the nifty transitions between gentle and intense playing, and thirdly with how those first two reasons seamlessly work together. A throttling jam to end the set was enough to leave the right impression – this trio are keepers.

“This is the headline show motherfucker. The tour starts and ends tonight.” So announced Brian Aubert, frontman for Silversun Pickups, who have managed to score a couple of free rides on our very shores – dinking on the handlebars of Snow Patrol three years ago and subsequently opening stadium shows; this time around getting big venues thanks to a slot alongside Bird of Tokyo. Melbourne fans considered themselves lucky then to have scored the only headline performance from the Californian band. Silversun Pickups responded in kind, delivering a lengthy set with songs flooding out non-stop for the most part.

Growing Old Is Getting Old and Well Thought Out Twinkles were the pair of tracks – one new, one old – that began the show and set out what this band intended on delivering from then on in. Merged by a barrage of distorted noise, the opening pair made one thing very clear: Silversun Pickups love big, loud noise. And the performances proved that they enjoy themselves on the stage too, with bassist Nikki Monninger jumping up and down relentlessly, not to mention her constantly breaking out a grin (surely she’s been to the Kim Deal school of smiling on stage). Chris Guanlao was quick to impress as well, his long hair in motion for the whole show as he thrashed his kit up back.

Reminiscing seemed quite important to Aubert as he tried to retrace the steps of a lost memory from the last time he was in Melbourne – a night that saw the band play Ding Dong, venture to Cookie and lose all memory in the Supper Club. There was also a heap of rambling and nicknaming of Australian cities when the band returned for an encore, but all in all his so-called banter was irritating and more songs were in order.

Within the set there was plenty of quality thanks to the band’s energy, but standing above the rest were tracks like Little Lover’s So Polite and It’s Nice To Know You Work Alone, which each contained the vocal combos of Aubert and Monninger – a pairing they could use more of. As far as a band’s “it” song goes, Silversun Pickups have an almighty IT in Lazy Eye; one to deserve the prime spot of closing the main set and one the band performed with fury.

Lazy Eye left an encore somewhat unnecessary, the generated high could have been a nice way to end, but one unsurprisingly appeared anyway. Toning it down just a smidge, Substitution and Three Seed were received well, before Common Reactor was the track to close the evening, played in its entirety that included Aubert and Joe Lester brandishing an ugly wave of fuzz via distorted guitar and keyboard effects.

Aubert declared “modestly” that filling a 900 capacity venue in Melbourne was a serious surprise for the band. Given they only had one shot at the headline spot this time, they seemed to enjoy it and have the crowd reciprocate that feeling. Surely third time’s a charm, and they’ll be doing their own full tour next time.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE LOVELY PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE