The Wombats, Faker, Owl Eyes @Hordern Pavilion, Sydney(14/10/2011)

Mon 17th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Pop/rock outfit The Wombats are of English origin, though you might not gather that by taking a look at their tour itinerary. Tonight’s show marks the Sydney leg of their third Australian tour in the space of twelve months, and the band have just announced that they will yet again be gracing our shores in February 2012 for Future Music Festival. This is a more arduous Australian touring schedule than many of our own home-grown artists, and the Wombats must be commended for their effort. It also acts as a testament to the band’s unwavering fanbase, who have managed to sell out one of Sydney’s largest concert venues for the group’s third trip down under in the past year.

Brooke Addamo – playing under the pseudonym Owl Eyes – takes the stage, along with a three piece backing band, to an already ample audience. Addamo’s brand of indie pop juxtaposes haunting melodies against more lively instrumentation, her enchanting vocals falling somewhere between Natasha Khan and Florence Welsh.

The former Australian Idol contestant has a captivating presence on stage, despite her minimal movement. The audience’s response is polite, though there are few in attendance that appear to be familiar with her material. It is only when Addamo launches into a cover of Foster the People’s indie flavour-of-the-month hit Pumped Up Kicks that the audience truly comes to life. By the time the irksomely catchy chorus comes around, the floor of the Hordern Pavilion is a sea of hands and glowsticks.

Despite such a huge crowd reaction for what was an extremely entertaining cover, it is Brooke’s original material that truly shines. Raiders couples a memorable synth line with a stunning melody and ‘us against them’ lyrics to create a superb three-minute piece of indie pop gold. Owl Eyes is one of the most exciting local artists to emerge this year, and tonight’s set no doubt earned the Melbourne singer-songwriter many new fans.

Acute myocardial infarction (or ‘heart attack’ in layman’s terms) is caused by a change in the level of blood supply to the heart, resulting in the death of heart cells. *Faker*’s most successful song is named after such a condition, which is somewhat ironic, as their music often has a similar effect on its audience’s ears. Nathan Hudson’s vocal delivery is even more monotonous live than it is on record, and the instrumentation often sounds sloppy, which admittedly isn’t helped by the poor mix and the unforgiving acoustics of the hollowed-out concrete slab that is the Hordern Pavilion. Singles Are You Magnetic?, Sleepwalking, This Heart Attack and Hurricane garner huge crowd reactions, and rightly so, as the beginning of these tracks signifies a break from the rest of the band’s material, which is, for the most part, free of any discernible melody or distinct structural variation. The group’s new material, in particular, falls flat, as it is completely lacking in the energy or catchiness that made This Heart Attack such a huge crossover hit. Tonight’s performance is evidence that until Faker start attempting to replicate their previous success by releasing a track entitled That Cardiac Arrest, it seems they will be relegated to smaller club venues and support slots.

As soon as Faker conclude their set, the crowd begin to chant for the headline act to take the stage. Such fervour from The Wombats’ fanbase is admirable, though the audience’s requests appear to be falling on deaf ears, as the Wombats don’t emerge from their burrows for another twenty minutes.

The British trio begin their set with Our Perfect Disease, the opening track to their most recent album. It makes for a somewhat subdued start to the set, though this is soon remedied when the band launch into monster-hit Kill the Director, evoking a crowd sing-along of epic proportions. The not-so-subtle ode to prostitution Jump into the Fog, along with Girls/Fast Cars and the anthemic Party in a Forest make for a highly energetic opening half-hour.

Despite the middle third of the set marking a rather sharp decline in the level of energy, the audience remain as enthusiastic throughout most of the more downbeat tracks. 1996 is enjoyed by all who can ignore the shoddy lyricism, and the band engage the audience by encouraging those in the crowd to ‘grind’ one another during Little Miss Pipedream, though even the band members themselves admit that “it’s not quite _Drop It Like It’s Hot_”. The undeniably catchy Techno Fan is accompanied by a rather impressive laser exhibition, which, as the song lyrics suggest, fills the minds of all in attendance with empty plans, as audience members irrationally reach towards the ceiling, attempting to make contact with the intangible beams of light bombarding their eyes. “That looked pretty cool from up here,” Matt Murphy exclaims from the stage.

The crowd soon returns to the frenzied manner in which they started the show, singing along emphatically with Murphy to Moving to New York, and furiously fist-pumping to dance anthem Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves). The band exit the stage, before promptly returning to perform a three-song encore, including the phenomenally successful Let’s Dance to Joy Division, enjoying by far the biggest crowd response of the night.

Tonight’s performance is a far cry from the shambolic mess that was the Wombats’ first Australian tour in 2008. The band now perform with the type of confidence and polish that only comes from three years of constant touring and improvement. Some may question how a band with just two full-length releases to their name can continue to return to our shores so frequently, and still play to increasingly large audiences. The answer lies within their performances. Things are only going to get bigger and better for the Wombats.