Changing Lanes @ DevonshireStreet, Sydney (17/09/11)

Tue 20th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Changing Lanes is growing to be a perfect example of one of Sydney’s best independent festivals. The brainchild of FBi, the event showcases a mix of Sydney’s up and coming and already established artists, a great setting, and has become a testament to what the city is capable of.

Earlier acts in the day such proved themselves through sound performances including Oscar and Martin whose mix of auto-tune, rich textures and experimental layering in tracks Recognize and Do The Right Thing established them as a unique and promising Sydney band to watch. This trend was continued in the noise-pop antics of Megastick Fanfare were able to give a solid performance to a receptive and involved audience, albeit small in comparison to the latter half of the day, audience.

Brothers Grim and the Blue Murders offered a more blues-inspired set on the Dead Eddie stage featuring the aforementioned enigmatic front man playing songs including Front Door Sally, leaving the Gaelic Club with a lengthy queue for entry by the end of their set.

Drones-front man Gareth Liddiard’s set was the most involved and inspiring set of the day. His unconventional approach to performing – a mix of stream of consciousness style storytelling and songs – has always made him one of Australia’s greatest live musicians, however, his performance at the festival showed his malleability and passion in his act. Faced with a smaller crowd than many of the acts after him, Liddiard played a set that humbled the lot of them and reaffirmed his position at the apogee of the Australian music scene. Playing through songs of his solo album, he opened his set with Blondin Makes an Omelette before moving into Highplains Mailman.

His stage banter ranged from discussing an imagined role in a Man from Snowy River film and his Vin Diesel-esque training regime to achieve it “when I return I will be amazing” all the way to a surreal tale about a friend in Melbourne “marrying the brown acid man”. The stage banter, as entertaining as it was, was secondary to his music. As he played through acoustic renditions of Drones’ tracks Sharkfin Blues and I Don’t Ever Want To Change, a quick survey of the crowd showed that even those less involved at the beginning of the concert were completely attentive. Liddiard closed his set with Jezebel. With one of the most hauntingly beautiful closers a festival set has seen, Gareth Liddiard made sure everyone knew that he was doing things his way – and very successfully at that.

Faced with the task of following a stunning but serious set, The Vasco Era and their laid back rock n’ roll heavy style was apt. Playing songs to rock the festival into the night, the band presented songs with a simpler lyrics and gave overall a more superfluous performance. The appropriateness of the bands placing became clear as their carefree style in songs such as Rock N’ Roll and the Hendrix cover Voodoo Child relieved the sombre and mysterious tone that ended Liddiard’s set.

The follow up act, Bleeding Knees Club felt like one of the few disappointments of the day – lacking the pure unadulterated energy of the Vasco Era, along with the meaningful and varied aspect of Liddiard’s set – the band played a selection of songs that felt wrongly placed towards the end of the night. Although the rough punk sound was received with somewhat satisfaction from the audience, the set contained many drawbacks.

Papa vs Pretty have clearly garnered a dedicated audience over their short existence, with much of the turnout for their set a group of fresh faces who mysteriously disappeared after its conclusion. The poppy dynamics combined with the skill of the band, in particularly guitarist/singer Thomas Rawle whose impressive vocal range was matched by his equally laudable guitar technique. The band played though well known audience favourites Heavy Harm and One of the Animals to an ecstatic reception. The excitement of the audience, however, was almost eclipsed by the excitement of the band themselves – clearly passionate, and immeasurably thankful of their nigh-top billing at a festival with such an impressive array of musicians (as Rawle frequently pointed out to the audience “Did anyone see Gareth Liddiard? How fucking awesome is Gareth Liddiard?” “Make sure you all hang around for PVT, those guys rock”). Despite giving a promising set for things to come out of the band, their placement before PVT saw them quickly over shadowed.

PVT produced an incredibly dense sound for a three piece and quickly won over punters in early tracks Sweet Memory and In the Blood. The set reached its climax with the title track of the band’s 2008 album O Soundtrack My Heart. The song demonstrated the versatility, and above all, the tightness of the band – intently moving of one another and playing with an astounding precision not at all as prevalent in previous acts. Soundtrack My Heart and later tracks including Didn’t I Furious focused on the bands most impressive asset, Laurence Pike.

Pike’s chops have been widely praised with his recent string of solo support spots for Seekae. Pike’s influence on the bands live performance is colossal with his complex rhythms and ability to function as a human metronome driving their sound in all kinds of directions. That said, PVT’s much respected position in the Australian music scene come from their work as a band and their closing set at Changing Lanes festival proved their position as one of our best bands – but also an apt closer to the festival. Changing Lane’s showcases many Australian up and coming artists and bands, and PVT are a perfect instance of a once up and coming band that has continued on to the position it is in today.