Birds of Tokyo, SilversunPickups, The Chemist @Festival Hall, Melbourne(01/10/2010)

Mon 4th Oct, 2010 in Gig Reviews

It’s a strange feeling, when a band you’ve followed from humble beginnings, suddenly take off into the mainstream music scene and quadruple their fan base almost overnight. In recent times, Birds of Tokyo have moved from the more intimate surrounds of the Hi-fi to headline their current tour alongside the highly regarded Silversun Pickups in some of the country’s biggest venues. Putting aside their Broken Strings Tour, Birds of Tokyo’s show at Festival Hall was their most ambitious Melbourne date yet, and my expectations were as high as ever as I took my place at the Festival Hall GA barrier.

As the venue slowly began to fill, Perth locals The Chemist took to the stage. From word of mouth, The Chemist had been described as ‘Muse-like,’ with vocalist Benjamin Witt emulating the style of Muse’s Matt Bellamy. While this isn’t wholly accurate, they were nonetheless impressively tight in potentially daunting surrounds.Embarking on tour with Boy & Bear this month, I highly recommend them. It won’t be long until they start making the rounds on the tour circuit much more frequently.

With the addition of Californian rockers Silversun Pickups to the night, many were divided as to whether or not they should be headlining the show. There is absolutely no denying the crowd were divided into three groups. Birds of Tokyo fans, Silversun Pickups fans, and fans of both bands.

Lead vocalist and the band’s guitarist Brian Aubert shuffles all over the stage as he and the band powered through an eight song setlist, opening with Growing Old Is Getting Old and Well Thought Out Twinkles. Between songs, the band commented on how much they loved Melbourne, the ‘weird’ set up of Festival Hall and how much they enjoyed their only headline show at the Corner Hotel .

Over the course of the forty-five minute long set, it was hard not to feel like the Silversun Pickups were in fact headlining this show, judging by the electrifying performance. The enthralling energy they gave the crowd was returned equally with cheers of more, and with the final three songs, made up of Substitution and the seamless transition between Panic Switch and Lazy Eye, this was a set well worth the $60+ ticket price. Word is that Australia will be Silversun Pickups first stop after the release of album #3 and this ‘next big thing’ is one not to be missed.

With an almost completely full venue, anticipation was high for the triumphant return of Birds of Tokyo. When the boys from Perth finally make their arrival on stage, the cheers are deafening; the welcoming reception temporarily rendering the band speechless. Vocalist Ian Kenny greets the crowd with a friendly and loud “Hello Melbourne!” and with an interesting choice for set openers, the guys kick things off with The Unspeakable Scene, and Day One track Black Sheets. Fan favourite Wild Eyed Boy from sophomore album Universes makes an early appearance in the set, leaving the crowd thrashing with excitement, followed by the White Witch, with Kenny breaking out his signature dance moves for all to see.

Guitarist Adam Spark said that this tour would be touching base from each era of Birds of Tokyo’s discography. Keeping true to his word, fans were treated to a song that Kenny announced “Has not been played in a very long time, so we thought we would share it with you,” launching into a slower, reworked version of first EP song Believer. It was at this point that the small portion of long time Birds of Tokyo believers made their voices known, singing along with Kenny, hanging “those fuckers from the highest tree.”

With a small majority of back catalogue favourites covered, new track Circles was performed; the huge LED light board making its debut, sending hundreds of circles dashing forward. As two or three giant circle rings projected throughout the crowd and on the ceiling, Kenny spun himself around in circles, dancing away and pushing his vocal capabilities to the limit, hitting all the high notes with perfection.

The slower paced Wayside is a must at a Birds of Tokyo live gig and, as always, the song receives a rousing reception. With each and every moment played to perfection, the highlight belongs to Ian Kenny’s interpretative dancing, notable during the lyric “I’ve got my fingernails scratching at the dry wall”, with Kenny imitating the line with his hands. The band then spring into The Saddest Thing I Know, the first single from the self titled album and within a millisecond, the crowd are giving it their all towards the band, who reply in kind. Guitarist Adam Spark is a virtuoso; his performance simply brilliant as he kicks the song into overdrive and leaves nothing behind.

There is a well-thought diversity in the set, with songs carefully chosen from each release (apart from the One Way/Stay EP), the crowd are treated to a banquet of the band’s finest songs. In The Veins Of Death Valley once again has Kenny dancing away, and touring/recording/ 5th Bird of Tokyo, Glenn Sarangapany stands on his seat, playing away his keys and matching the energy of Kenny as much as he can.

Slowing down the pace slightly with Get Out and the epic The Bakers Son serves to further please the crowd; the latter proving a real highlight of the show. The electrifying Murmurs once again has Glenn standing his seat and drummer Adam Weston bashing away at the drum kit during the chorus, as Spark and bassist Anthony Jackson shred away on their respective guitars. At the conclusion, Kenny declares that the Melbourne crowd has the most beautiful singing voices, and that he thinks it would be cool to have a choir behind them at one show. They’ve done the Broken Strings tour before; why not attempt a choir too?

At this point of the show, there are only a handful of songs left for the set and one of them is current radio favourite Plans. It’s an incredibly beautifully written and equally beautifully performed song and, to no surprise, it received the loudest cheers from the crowd. Kenny thanked those present from the bottom of his heart: “We are the mother fucking Birds of Tokyo, and we consider ourselves pretty lucky!” before performing the set finale, the Universes classic track, Silhouettic.

Returning for an encore, the very best is saved for very last, with The Gap providing yet another highlight. With only one song left, Spark and Glenn begin playing away with Uno, as Kenny thanks the crowd once again, before it seamlessly transitions into Broken Bones, closing the set. Kenny continues to dance as ever before Birds of Tokyo depart the stage, the lights come up, and we are left having seen one of the best sets the band have performed.

It is obvious that Birds of Tokyo are becoming more and more popular with each coming day. Even though they are now performing in much larger venues to far more mainstream audiences, their performance still packs the same charm and punch it did when I saw them for first time many years ago. Birds of Tokyo are well and truly clear for takeoff.

CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE

Birds of Tokyo Setlist
The Unspeakable Scene
Black Sheets
Wild Eyed Boy
White Witch
Believer
Circles
Wayside
The Saddest Thing I Know
Wild At Heart
Off Kilter
In The Veins Of Death Valley
Get Out
The Bakers Son
Murmurs
Plans
Silhouettic

Encore
The Gap
Uno
Broken Bones

Silversun Pickups Setlist
Growing Old Is Getting Old
Well Thought Out Twinkles
There’s No Secrets This Year
The Royal We
Future Foe Scenarios
Substitution
Panic Switch
Lazy Eye