Grafton Primary, ReadableGraffiti @ UC Refectory,Canberra (10/2/11)

Mon 14th Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

I love you Canberra, but sometimes you do absolutely nothing to help your reputation. Case in point: O NO! Featuring Grafton Primary, put on by UC Live! Looking around the pretty empty refectory on Friday night it was easy to count the number of people there and the figure certainly wasn’t pretty. Often people wait until the headliner is on to turn up to a show and although I’m sure a few more people showed up for the main event it still meant Grafton Primary ended up playing for a crowd of 70 at the most. Which is quite frankly, pretty embarrassing.

But enough bitching. The fact is, the team at UC Live! have been working extremely hard to bring quality live acts to Canberra and that’s exactly what they did on Friday night – the reason why the poor attendance numbers were so disheartening.

To get things started local DJ’s Dept. of Defiance, Celebrity Sex Tape and Princi were on hand, thankfully not letting the near empty refectory stop their onslaught of party starters.

Readable Graffiti were given the task of drawing the mingling crowd to the stage and this they did with ease, with an energetic and hyper set that set the tone for the rest of the evening. Graffiti make music that is manic-jumping from place to place, with a frontman who really knows how to work a stage.

With their job well and truly done, Graffiti left the stage, leaving behind a crowd that was ready and waiting for more electro madness.

Fog and doomsday sound effects heralded Grafton Primary’s arrival on stage and what followed was a display of amazing lighting, showmanship and electro-noir goodness.
Grafton took the less than pleasing attendance in their stride with frontman Josh instructing the crowd to “Tell all your friends how much fun we all had,” and after the performance they put on, I’m pretty sure that’s what everyone did.

Running through a set list that covered hits and best-kept secrets, Grafton proved once again why they are well and truly Australia’s electro pioneers. Highlights were definitely All Stars, I Can Cook, We Are The Music, along with newest track Eagle, but Grafton have the ability to turn every song they play into some kind of dreamy, blissful gem.

After what was an other-worldly and beautifully dark experience Grafton bid a very appreciative crowd farewell, only for the lights to be turned on and the atmosphere to quickly turn into one of an awkward house party. However, that didn’t matter much as the departing crowd seemed pretty glad they’d bothered to show up.

So let this be a public service announcement, Canberra. Next time we’re lucky enough for a band as talented as Grafton Primary to pay us a visit, do yourself a favour and put on your dancing shoes. Or if in the case of Friday it’s raining, buy some gumboots.