Tim Rogers, Scott Spark @ TheVanguard, Sydney (21/12/10)

Mon 27th Dec, 2010 in Gig Reviews

‘Twas four nights till Christmas and all through The Vanguard, arses were parked in seats, waiting for wine, a warm meal and a rather disheveled looking Australian songbird. Robert Johnson is playing over the speakers and vintage pin up photos are projected on the back stage curtain, a contrast to the festive looking red electric piano, adorned with Christmas Bush, onstage.

A mixed crowd of patrons, sharply dressed in the restaurant and very casually attired in the balcony above, have mostly filled venue when Brisbanite Scott Spark took to the keys. I hadn’t heard of Scott before this gig and my research hadn’t left a great impression, other than that he was just another indie-pop singer. I was quite surprised when he began to play a fairly slow burning opener, throwing out pop sensibilities for storytelling. The audience was hushed as he sung with a confident yet reedy voice, not unlike Tim Freedman and mixed with his pulsing rhythm on the piano kept striking an image in my head of Tom Waits on Broadway

His pleasant banter endeared him to most of the crowd but, with much of his set sounding very similar, some punters notably lost interest toward the middle of his set, with talking beginning to compete for volume against the music. Scott Spark, however, performed with confidence the whole room was taking him in. His confidence was only beleaguered by slightly falling out of his own rhythm every now and then; creating an obvious stutter in the flowing quality of his playing, most notably in his single Fail Like You Mean It. With genuine thanks and polite applause Scott and the Vanguard part ways, the stage curtains are drawn and Robert Johnson returns to the airwaves. Most of the people downstairs have finished their meals are only given a brief second look at the wine lists before the curtains part and a familiar face swaggers out onto the stage.

Much has been said about Tim Rogers throughout his time in public eye and I don’t intend to vomit much more hyperbole his way, but it’s safe to say he’s got an arseload of songs to chose from when playing a solo show. This is why it was a very pleasant surprise when he opened with Lust, a song from his mid 2010 cabaret, Saligia. Only one other song from the musical would appear ( Sins of the Father ) in a set strewn mostly with tracks from his early solo albums with the Twin Set and the Temperance Union, as well as select deep cuts from a handful of You Am I albums.

Playing solo, Tim’s uniquely calloused voice was on display, but he seemed to be in fine form, not off put by the nakedness of the performance, despite muffling some lyrics during the opening numbers. When things seemed to be getting too serious, Tim would shake his hips and send up his usual rock persona, elevating the mood of the room.

Rogers was quite conversational, stopping A Nervous Kid to explain lyrics, talking about the early days of YAI touring with The Smokin’ Popes through America to more recent tours with The Strokes. This break in the fourth wall of the performance was a surprising twist, jokes cracked about the venue staff and not knowing Davey Lane’s (of You Am I) parts became as much a part of the performance as the songs themselves.

Inviting Scott Spark to the stage for two Ella Fitzgerald Christmas covers, including What Are You Doing New Years Eve?, was met with applause and the odd boo from the balcony, but an uneven mix of both parties and the return of Scott Spark’s hit and miss rhythm lessened what could have been a special set closer.

After a short break and some grumbles of “...no Cathy’s Clown” Tim returned to the stage and launched into a cover of Paul Kelly’s I Can’t Believe We Were Married, much to the crowds pleasure. Rogers, in his most timid moment of the night, welcomed requests from the audience, which, after dodging calls for Berlin Chair, were You’ve Been Good to Me So Far, Handwasher and, finally, Paragon Cafe. Like most of the set, these are defiantly not the best known songs in Tim’s repertoire but received loud cheers and even standing ovations in some sections of the audience.

After playing for about an hour and twenty minutes, Rogers was gone and patrons were quietly leaving. More casual fans may have been disappointed with set list, there were a few conversations about the lack of big radio songs and the total dismissal of The Luxury of Hysteria, but most were buzzing about the honest and intimate show they had just seen and I was certainly with them.