Jonathan Boulet, We SayBamboulee @ The GaelicTheatre, Sydney (21/01/11)

Mon 24th Jan, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Although this new venue for Purple Sneakers lends itself much better to live shows, The Gaelic does take away the indie house party vibe that the Abercrombie was so good for and instead Purple Sneakers (rebranded as Last Night) has become just another gig night. But with a solid lineup such as this who can really mourn the loss of a smelly couch, outdoor loos and some guitar hero?

We Say Bamboulee opened the live portion of the night with their pretty unique style of indie pop. Without a fret in sight the three piece sail through a loopy synth and vocal led set that whilst enjoyable left me feeling like their EP Bush Tricks had a little more to offer than their live show.

Lead singer Doug Wright has strong vocals, but they often pay just a little too much homage to Ben Gibbard. This said the songs themselves (especially Swingsets and Waiting in Wisconsin ) are killer, with super cute lyrics and layers of tropical keys and boppy percussion. I think my slight disappointment in this performance stems from having seen the bands side project Fishing several times in the past months, because in this form sans live vocals and drums these boys are untouchable as party starting performers and anything else pales in comparison.

The strings finally took their rightful place with the rather large setup of the formally solo Jonathan Boulet. With two guitars, two percussionists and a bass the sound was loud and full. This was no more evident than during the opener You’re A Animal with its very drum heavy rhythm and screamy vocals that may be indicative of a less laidback vibe for the sophomore album to be released this year.

The musical talent of Boulet and his crew is undeniable and they gave the now heavily crowded venue a tight set full of favorites such as 321 Ready or Not Go and North to South East to You as well a number of fresher tunes. Even a broken string didn’t set these boys back as a quick swap of instrument between Boulet and lead guitarist was all it took to keep the set alive. Particular props should go to the young percussionist who knew his way very nicely around the snare and tom-tom setup at the front of stage.

The final song of the set was predictably and thankfully A Community Service Announcement. Although easily the best song of the night, this is more a testament to the brilliance of the track rather than the poor quality of the rest of the performance. Two years later and this has still got to be one of the finest pieces of indie-pop, and one that definitely transfers well from the computer based production to the live stage. The heaving (and possibly smoke machine traumatized) crowd clearly saw this as the perfect transition into the DJ part of the evening. And given that the average age of the punters meant they hadn’t reached puberty when Purple Sneakers had its first night, I’m sure that Last Night went on until the very early hours of the morning.