Tomas Ford, DOS4GW @ TheFront, Canberra (10/9/11)

Wed 14th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

I’ll admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the Tomas Ford gig on Saturday, but it turned out to be one of those magical and eye-opening nights that The Front specialises in.

A frustratingly long delay saw quite a few audience members walk out, and after a fairly lacklustre and techno set from a rather uninvolved warm up act, I was sorely tempted to do the same.

Fortunately, the minute Perth-native Tomas Ford hit the stage he commanded the entire room with his video backdrop, his powerful voice and not least, with his suspenders. Having more in common with cabaret than a typical (often deathly boring) ‘doof doof’ techno act, Ford brings together elements of burlesque, electro-disco and punk, and delivers it all with an infectious enthusiasm and unassuming, self-deprecating sense of humour. Ford threw every fibre of his being into the performance despite (or perhaps because of) the 12 person-strong crowd.

The whole glorious mess was crammed into The Front on Saturday night to promote Ford’s latest single, I Feel Dirty , a trashy electro-pop tune that celebrates the sweaty, fading glamour of Ford’s post-show journeys home and encapsulates perfectly his visceral, honest and often hilarious style. The single is also, rather conveniently, available free online, and should definitely be checked out.

The rest of the set saw Ford dive and drape himself across every available surface in the venue, donning top hats, coattails, and even a red sequinned band uniform. He bantered with (and sometimes baited) the audience, giving one fortunate young man a lap dance and flirting outrageously with my date for the night.

Just in case anyone had any doubts about the kind of showman Tomas Ford is, he launched himself onto the nearest coffee table and demanded to surf the, very obliging, crowd. After a few perilous turns around the room he even coaxed a fellow audience member to give it a go themselves.

Finally, as the show came to an end and Ford claimed he could go on no longer, the 12 of us banded together and demanded an encore, and Ford happily obliged, singing a little number about a trashy night on the town in Perth, which wrapped up with Ford’s head in the gutter on Wattle Street, dry-retching delightfully into the microphone for us.

I can only hope that Tomas Ford returns to Canberra town in the near future – and that enough people get out to support him, at the very least to the lighten the load during the crowd-surfing portion of the show.