Tonight Alive, Skyway!,Critics, Sound of Seasons @Annandale Hotel, Sydney(15/7/11)

Mon 25th Jul, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Sound of Seasons are young, ambitious and energetic – the exact kind of calling cards one would expect from an opening act for this type of show. Their attempts to get the still gathering crowd on their side is admirable, although perhaps not quite as fruitful as they might have anticipated. This could be a mix of things – the bassist’s strap continuously falling off included – but above all, it feels as though the five-piece are overshooting the mark somewhat. Their vocalist spends too much time in a higher range that he’s clearly not quite comfortable with; and the band’s sound, while quite catchy, is far too indebted to bands like Closure in Moscow and Panic! At the Disco to fully appreciate on its own. Plenty of potential here, though – it’s simply a matter of what they do with it.

Once upon a time, Critics were The Polaroid People, who were playing watered-down, cutesy pop-rock and opening for Short Stack. Needless to say, even though the same members remain, this isn’t that band. The guitars are downtuned, the lyrics are meaner and the songs are just plain better. Hell, some of them are even old enough to grow facial hair now. Although they, like Sound of Seasons, are yet to find their proper footing from a musical perspective, tonight’s set indicates that they are well on their way. They’ve maintained their keen ear for pop hooks and streamlined it through a somewhat darker sound, resulting in some impressive tunes like Set it Off and closer On the Way, We’ll Steal Your Faith. With an EP release impending, Critics are on the right track to shedding their skin and making a whole new name for themselves.

With the amount of merch in the room bearing their name and the cheer that went up as soon as they started, you could have easily been forgiven for thinking that Gold Coast kids Skyway! were the headlining act. They certainly played as though it was – not with arrogance, mind, but with confidence and wholehearted passion. Mixing elements of 90s skate punk, 80s hardcore and cross-generational pop-punk, the band took the bubbling energy levels in the room to new heights. Fans were leaping, diving and bouncing about the entire room, often going in to thieve the microphone from vocalist Dan McMaster, who was more than happy to let them do so. The band mostly took from their forthcoming Finders Keepers record, but also threw in a series of old favourites and an unexpected Tracy Chapman cover in Fast Car. The latter, in particular, had all the potential to become naff and irritating, but Skyway! had enough charm to smartly pull it off. The same could really be said for their whole set – this is a band that’s instantly likeable and eventually loveable. Well worth looking into.

Who says pop-punk is just for kids? The venue was packed out and heaving by the time Tonight Alive walked onto stage, and the frenzy continued from the very second they launched into single Wasting Away. Jenna McDougall was wide-eyed to the point of them popping out, amazed that such a big audience had turned up to see them. The past eighteen months have seen the band warming up stages for everyone from The Getaway Plan to 3Oh!3; but with their dues finally paid, the stage is all theirs. If there’s one thing they’ve learned in all of this time as a support act, it’s how to get their crowds going – sing-alongs were of the full-throated, hands-in-the-air variety; and any lone kick drum rhythm laid down by Matt Best was quickly picked up by surprisingly-precise handclaps. Even a brief moment of relative quiet in the form of an acoustic Invincible was nearly drowned out completely by the voices singing the lyrics back at the stage word-for-word. After working so hard to convert crossed arms into screaming fans, it’s like they didn’t have to try tonight.

Not that this meant the band slacked off – no, sir, nothing of the sort. This is a band that strives to give their all in the live environment, whether if they’re roadtesting new material (the nasty Fake It, the anthemic guitar pop of Starlight ) or playing a track for what feels like the millionth time ( To Die For, their now-customary take on Rufio’s In My Eyes ), the band continue to push themselves and work towards their greater strengths as a unit. For now, it might be a “cult following” of sorts, but rest assured that it won’t stay this way for long. They may well be playing venues three times the Annandale’s size within a year – and they will have earned every last ticket sale.