The Tiger and Me @ The Toff,Melbourne (09/07/2011)

Mon 11th Jul, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Arriving to an absolutely jam-packed gig room at The Toff a mere 45 minutes after doors open, it was both surprising and unfortunate to realise that both of the support acts for the night, Sal Kimber and The Rolling Wheel, had already come and gone. They must have done a decent job, because the crowd was in high spirits. Not even the chaotic bar queue, the lack of fresh air, or the always-frantic sound guy bowling people over appeared to be bothering anyone. With a somewhat larger crowd than is usually found at The Toff, the room became more and more sardine can-like with each person that came through the doors. Everyone jostled for position for the next half an hour before the curtains quietly pulled back, and The Tiger and Me ever-so-calmly began their set.

Starting with a slow but powerful opener, it immediately became clear that The Tiger and Me’s sound is simply made for performing live. There’s no denying that the recordings are great, and all of the songs are beautifully crafted, but it’s not until you see them unfold on stage that you begin to truly appreciate the talent and passion these guys have – right down to their colour-coordinated dress-code. With a subtle mix of black, white, and red silk adorning each member, mood-capturing lighting, and a thoughtfully structured setlist, the Melbourne sextet really created an atmosphere, a setting for their music, as opposed to just throwing on some jeans and pushing their songs out.

There are two things that make The Tiger and Me one of the more unique bands around at the moment. The first is the fact that they have three singers – Jane, Ade and Tobias – each of whom write their own songs, and each of whom play their own instruments (violin/piano/banjo/ukulele/accordion). Of course, there is still the bass (*Tim*), drums (*Sarah*), and electric guitar (*Fez*), just to round things off. This means that they are a band with not only a great amount of talent, but diverse talent at that, which brings us to the second unique trait – their sound. Because of the diversity of styles and instruments, The Tiger and Me showcase a hybridised genre all of their own, which is probably why they’ve been described as everything from indie-pop, to circus-cabaret, to Euro-folk. Switching effortlessly between these varying singers, styles, and tempos resulted in a set that was totally unpredictable, but consistently impressive.

Being the launch show for their Howling Fire EP (the first in a 3-part series), the band excitedly introduced their new material, but also played a delectable mix of tracks from their two previous EP’s and last years acclaimed album From A Liar To A Thief.

There were gentle moments in Dangerous Creatures and I Left The Wolves Behind That Night, and loud, big-band moments in Don’t You Just Set the World Alight and Tango. There were stories of Ade’s fascination with spies and the TV show Spooks; the time that on Jane’s instruction, The Tiger and Me “ate” fellow band Half-Cut Thief and stole half their songs; and Tobias’ sheepish admission that he’d been writing songs about break-ups since before he’d even been in a relationship. The band laughed together after songs like So, Let It Go, amused by how much fun they were having playing the new songs. And then there were the stand-out moments courtesy of some very special guest performers. The hauntingly eerie music-box duet of Jane and Kel Day was a highlight, made evident by the deafening applause that came after it. Tango brought us a talented young trombone-player who is about to embark on an overseas trip to further her music studies (although her name was sadly lost in the noise of the crowd). Don’t You Just Set the World Alight featured Liam McGorry from Eagle & The Worm on trumpet, a match apparently quite desirable to TT&M as they said they were contemplating “not giving him back”. Then there was Little and Lost, which saw three traditional Japanese Tao drummers come out to recreate and emphasise the song’s heart-pounding beat, leaving everyone a little blown away.

As I made my way to the back of the crowd for the last song, Oh My Darlin’, I realised just how wide The Tiger & Me’s reach is. There were sixty-something year-old ladies, there were young indie-kids, there were middle-aged mamas- even a guy sporting flowing dreadlocks and an accompanying rasta beanie. It just goes to show that no matter what music you make, as long as you make it well (and perform it well), it will bring people together, and it will bring them in droves!

At one point in the night, Ade was talking about the first time the band had played live, and how he’d read an absolutely crushing review of their performance afterwards. He said that even though he’d really taken it to heart at first, it wasn’t long before he realised that as long as they believed in themselves and their music, it didn’t matter what one person thought. And so they persevered. It was a beautiful sentiment for both the room full of people that I’m sure were mighty glad they stuck around, and for the band who I’m sure will be reading only good reviews from hereon out. Well done tigers – it’s full marks from this reviewer.