The Beautiful Girls, BenSalter @ The HiFi, Brisbane(18/03/2011)

Wed 23rd Mar, 2011 in Gig Reviews

If tonight’s performance by The Beautiful Girls and Ben Salter proves anything, it’s that they’re both full of surprises. Some good, some not so good. The first surprise is that everyone actually bothered to show up after the original date was cancelled due to the floods. The second date is almost two months from the original. Even so, no one has dispensed with their original plan. This is a reflection of they type of people The Beautiful Girls attract. They’re actually quite dedicated, if a bit close minded – as reflected by the opening performance.

A woman taps me on the shoulder towards the end of *Ben Salter*’s set. “Are you getting this!” she exclaims in a rather patronising tone. My answer is that I “sort of” get it, and judging by the way the audience gives him the cold shoulder I’m one of the few paying him any real attention. Salter’s performance of vehemence and dry wit is the kind that requires patience and quiet contemplation. The crowd babbles aimlessly through the set; almost to the point where it’s insulting. But some of the disinterest rests squarely on the shoulders of Salter. His melancholic material is harrowing to witness, but it’s contrasted by a few songs which aren’t particularly interesting. These songs appear to be, for the majority, the ones played on acoustic.

It’s two songs into *The Beautiful Girls*’ set and the audience are still treating the show as if it is beer-garden fodder. Slowly their attention turns to the music – where it belongs. I Thought About You makes a surprisingly early inclusion and the audience see it as a fitting time to start gyrating madly. Yet even at its peak the enthusiasm is subdued – an adequate reflection of the music, perhaps?

Knowing your limits as an artist is paramount. Strengths and weaknesses will help or hinder performances. Unlike Ben Salter, The Beautiful Girls are at their best when they go acoustic. The songs are stripped back and the bareness allows the smaller, more intricate parts to shine through; in particular the keyboard melodies and Mat McHugh’s smooth vocals in Music. The songs which utilise electrical instruments appear too cluttered and don’t allow the band to exert their full ability. Extended jams become tiresome and even an impromptu melding of In The Air Tonight into Wrong Side Of Town doesn’t quite cut it.

The biggest gripe tonight is towards the sampling. The whole point of using samples is to enhance performance; to add something special. Using sampling to replace horn parts and back up vocals is lazy. It would have added a bit of much needed flair to certain songs if they hired a few session musicians.

As the set finishes with the deep groove of In love, a chant of “Olé, Olé, Olé” begins to sprout up from down the front. These fans seem to have missed that the Roar grand final was the week before.This behavior basically sums up the evening. Fans of The Beautiful Girls want something accessible, innocuous and not particularly troubling to the brain. Tonight’s performance was indicative of this. The Beautiful Girls serve their purpose well but the world shouldn’t be expected of them.