Sparkadia, Imaginary Cities,The Trouble With Templeton @UC Refectory (9/9/11)

Sun 11th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Great shows with big name acts go hand-in-hand with the UC Refectory and last Friday night was no exception, as UC played host to Sparkadia on the Canberra leg of their current ‘Mary’ tour.

Kicking things off was Brisbane act The Trouble With Templeton, who have been supporting Sparkadia since the beginning of the tour at the start of this month. Warming up the early crowd for a well-known band can be a fairly unenviable task, but TWT’s Thomas Calder possesses a powerful voice that flooded the venue with his heartfelt, folk-driven tunes. Personally, I’d prefer to have seen TWT in a more intimate space like The Front in Lyneham which would really showcase their sound.

Up next were Canadian kids Imaginary Cities, touring with Sparkadia to promote their debut album ‘Temporary Resident’. The band quickly won the crowd over with their unassuming charm and infectious blend of indie-pop, Motown, soul and their secret weapon, lead singer Marti Sarbit’s beautiful, goosebump-inducing voice that she unleashed with full force on tracks like Hummingbird and the bittersweet Where’d All The Living Go. Soon enough, everyone was dancing and getting involved, band member Rusty Matyas even enlisted a few people to film part of the set on his phone.

Imaginary Cities put on one of those rare shows that captivated an initially standoffish audience, and I can only hope that they’ll be swinging past Canberra again in the future.

Finally, after a suitably rockstar delay in which a roadie carefully placed fluffy white towels on the stage, Mr Alex Burnett unleashed the Sparkadia experience upon us with The Great Impression, instantly transforming the cavernous UC Refectory into a private audience with the boys.

Burnett et al launched straight into their bigger hits, with Kiss of Death and Talking Like I’m Falling Downstairs, which AB revealed he actually regretted recording, but his judgement must have been off that day, as it had every single person in the audience singing along to every single word.

After a brief respite and a solo turn from Burnett, I managed to make my way towards the front of the decent, but oddly not massive, crowd, where I was able to get a better look at the frontman and his sparkly Johnny Cash style. His bouffant hair and diva-like reputation notwithstanding, Alex Burnett is exceptionally talented and a true showman and I can’t wait until Sparkadia hit C-town up again.