The first time I saw The Beautiful Girls was at one of my all time favourite venues, The Zoo in Brisbane, in 2003. The Zoo has character, the wooden floors, the rusted fans, the beer barrel tables; it has such a great feel. When I saw them in Brisbane three years ago they hadn’t yet hit the big time. Fast forward three years and The Beautiful Girls are one of the hottest acts touring their way around the country.
Lining up to support The Beautiful Girls this evening were The Fumes. The Fumes are a two piece similar in style to The Mess Hall, who play some of the best rocking 12 bar blues I’ve heard in a long time. The latter part of their 45-minute set was tight and punchy. Included within the set was ‘Automobile’ from their debut album, which Triple J listeners would be familiar with, even if they don’t recognise the track name. The Fumes were energetic and an enjoyable opening act. If you haven’t seen them on tour yet, take the opportunity when they’re next in town, as you won’t be disappointed.
When The Beautiful Girls arrived on stage an almighty roar went up from the crowd. The band has become a favourite here in Canberra, playing sold out shows at the ANU and on the main stage at Stonefest. One of the reasons for their popularity is the whole value for money aspect; when they come to town to play, you don’t just play an hour long set, this evening they were on stage for at least an hour and a half. In that hour and a half there was barely a flat note, or one out of tune. I attempted to consciously listen for mistakes during a couple of songs, but to no avail, I just got caught up in the atmosphere, and lost track.
The creativity within The Beautiful Girls set was amazing, taking a leaf from Ben Harper’s book and incorporating other artists songs within their own. On ‘Blackbird’ they managed to mix in The Cat Empire’s ‘The Chariot’, with the two songs blending effortlessly. The set kicked off with ‘We’re Already Gone’ which immediately had punters dancing their little booties off. Other crowd favourites included ‘So it Seems’, ‘Periscopes’ and ‘Music’, which this evening was played in a quieter tempo. When they concluded the main bracket of their set with ‘Wrong Side’, they took the opportunity to have a jam towards the end of the song and really encouraged the punters to dance like there was no tomorrow.
By the time the band came back on stage for their encore a couple of people had cottoned on to the fact that there was a set list with the sound guy, and had already started calling out for the bands cover of Cold Chisel’s ‘Flame Trees’. The cover was a little disappointing considering the great job Sarah Blasko had previously done with it. That was the sourest note of a very sweet night. The Beautiful Girls finished with ‘La Mar’ and ‘Morning Sun’, walking off stage to rapturous applause.
