Youth Group, The Boat People,Flamingo Crash @ The Zoo,Brisbane 28/04/07

Wed 23rd May, 2007 in Gig Reviews

A quiet night for the Zoo early on, however local sensation Flamingo Crash caught the stage like fire. While most Youth Group fans hadn’t arrived, the few that were there were visibly impressed at the dynamic technicolour stage presence of this synth-rock quintet. The show was also the last gig for their original guitarist Marcel, who bouced, soloed and riffed with his usual Fugazi-inspired gusto. The band create a intense wall of sound including climaxes, dramatic pauses and disco-beat jams. Their set was made up of a few new songs from their upcoming album such as Toys and Smart Bomb as well as old favourites like JJJ hit Yes Yes Yes. Another classic show from a flawless live act who ought to be far beyond doing support slots.

Second support, indie-popsters The Boat People had a charming stage manner, with honest songwriting, a personal voice and amazingly well-crafted lyrics. The sound from the Zoo was excellent and The Boat People’s charisma drew attention to their enrapturing songwriting. Notable were tunes Death of Author and Panic ,while some unreleased new songs which were definite highlights of the set.

Following these bands, Youth Group came on stage to a crowd which seemed to have swelled to capacity an instant beforehand. Unfortunately for most ticket buyers, they were destined to see the least compelling of the three acts on the bill. They began with String and played mainly songs off their new album, but Youth Group seemed tired and disinterested throughout the show. Rather than concentrating on the audience or performance, it seemed they were more content on staring at their overly-complicated pedal racks, only moving around when they needed to stomp on one or tweak a knob. It wasn’t a markable different from the usual Youth Group fare. They are far better as recording artists than as live performers, and lack stage lustre. The attitude of the singer was summed up when a person in the front row stuck his hand out and yelled ‘high five!’ while he was bending over his pedals. All he got in return was a disgusted look and a response of ‘No high five.’ After leaving without playing Forever Young, they inevitably returned to the stage for the singalong. The band somehow got more into this song than their originals, and it was a very nice moment as the whole crowd sang together. They then closed with See-Saw and left with minimal crowd interaction. It wasn’t a terrible show, but for an international band and the ticket price to match, you can expect a band to have some more vigour in front of their fans.