Feist, Mountain Man @ PalaisTheatre, Melbourne(01/02/2012)

Sat 4th Feb, 2012 in Gig Reviews

In 2008, Laneway Festival snagged Feist right before she became an ipod ad sensation, making her festival set one of the most popular the festival had (and still has) seen. When she performed her intimate sideshow that time around, she mentioned something about returning in October that year. Well it’s now February, four years later, and the Canadian songstress has been reeled in by Laneway yet again. Off the back of last year’s sensational Metals, her sideshow at St Kilda’s Palais Theatre did everything to excuse her extended absence, and left the house one hundred per cent satisfied.

With a smattered crowd taking their seats early, Mountain Man didn’t exactly have the same number of ears before them as Feist would, but they managed to pull a similar attentiveness. Before they were to join Feist as her backing vocal troupe, the American trio performed a short set of their own numbers, demonstrating a nature that was as odd as it was endearing.

The silence Mountain Man was met with was the first point of intrigue; more so for the band than the audience, whose silence resulted in members asking if there was anyone actually out in the darkness. A capella numbers started things off, with a little guitar added later on, and the girls showed how impressive their harmonies could get. It got a little sleepy at times, but that seemed to be a part of their charm.

There was no fancy shenanigans for Leslie Feist and her band when they appeared on stage – she and the band coming out casually and sorting themselves out with brief hello instead of having any big launch planned. What kicked things off was a mighty display of talent and, eventually, intensity that was to set the scene for the next two hours. Her multi-instrumentalist band members made an immediate impression, and Feist’s voice was stunning from the moment she opened it to sing – it was certainly the right way to commence proceedings.

What progressed was a string of Metals tracks; Feist showing a clear desire to perform as much from her latest offering as possible. Striking, smokey flashes powered A Commotion to life early, with Feist and band alike jolting their way over each “Commotion” thunder. Graveyard quickly changed the mood, with Feist announcing it to be a “really an acoustic song” (but not really) that loosened things up a little.

The new material all went down really well, but what was interesting was the re-imaginings of older songs that made it onto Feist’s set list. Mushaboom with wooden planks beating the drums amidst vivid pink lighting; So Sorry began with making everyone “a bit uncomfortable” as Feist introduced and conducted audience harmonies throughout the entire theatre; and My Moon My Man and I Feel It All completely blew away anyone with expectations for the songs, as Feist chose to wholly rock out on the usually more lighthearted tracks.

And with the new style on old tracks, Feist managed to get just the reaction she was after. In the front row, much to the disapproval of the Palais ushers, one keen fan got up to dance. Made to move down the aisle, the guy soon made his impression, and quickly everyone was up and out of their seats with Feist announcing to any security to leave everyone alone and let them dance wherever they pleased. An energy was created in that moment that lasted (with a few breathers here and there) for what remained of Feist’s set, and everyone seemed to feel the better for it.

What was especially amusing about everyone standing to attention to dance in their place was that when things quietened down, the sound of a thousand chairs was pretty obvious to the musicians on stage. Feist and Mountain Man, who appeared without the rest of their band in the encore, found this particularly amusing and struggled to initiate their new song together. Once it was out, though, the four voices shone, complemented by the theatre’s acoustics that only made their harmonies all the more spectacular.

The end to the night brought with it a surprise, with Feist appearing for a second encore to play a solo rendition of Intuition for a friend of hers. Almost entirely removed from the joyous majority of her performance, the song’s gentle progression left the crowd silent and appreciative of just how great a voice Feist has – a final reminder of how well she comes across live. And with that, no one seemed to even question that 1, 2, 3, 4 didn’t get a show in.

As a musician and performer, Feist manages to show complete majesty and power. It is impossible to listen or watch her and not fall in love, and for a Feist fan to have missed this show, complete with ingenius re-imaginings of her favourites and extensive evidence of how great an album Metals is, would have been a damn shame. There were no promises no come back in the coming months, but hopefully this time around it won’t be as long before we can enjoy such a performance again.