During an evening brimming with indie pop, it's Brisbane quartet the Jungle Giants who serve as the musical entree. They fit the bill like a glove: their summery tunes take a leaf or two from the Two Door Cinema Club songbook and add a dash of afrobeat for good measure. While they don't reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, it was fun and uplifting enough to entice baby-faced kids to dance and spin around giddily in the front row (which was a nice contrast to the response many support bands get. How often have you been to a gig and witnessed the opening act greeted by punters' discerning frowns and crossed arms?). The Jungle Giants' visit to Melbourne closed on a high with their triple j approved hit 'Mr Polite' receiving plenty of handclaps and frantic fits of hip shaking.
While we don't like to throw around terms like 'buzz' and 'hype', the six lads in Melbourne's Northeast Party House have certainly been turning heads for all the right reasons lately. With a spot on the Pyramid Rock Festival in 2010 and having shared stages with the likes of UK's Does it Offend You, Yeah? and fellow upcoming locals Gold Fields and Hunting Grounds, they've had time to refine their live shows, and tonight is more than enough evidence of this.
If you haven't heard NPH before, think Foals meets the playful electro of Passion Pit. It's sugary sweet stuff that belongs on dancefloors and, appropriately enough, at house parties everywhere. Tonight, Zach Hamilton-Reeves strolls the stage in a fluoro shirt and croons into the microphone, while glistening slabs of synth fill the air alongside soaring guitars and a sturdy rhythmic backbone. The polite indie kids in the crowd who just nodded along lose their inhibitions at this point and merge into a united sweaty mass. I even spot a few people on their mates' shoulders. Maybe it was the hometown pride coming out, but the crowd really lapped it up (myself included). Set highlight and slow burner 'Dusk' was tucked around the end, with its ambient guitars that meander along before exploding into a euphoric eargasm of shimmering synth. Keep an eye on these guys, trust me.
By the time the six members of Ball Park Music line up along the modestly sized East Brunswick Club stage, everyone is shoulder to shoulder amongst the sold-out venue. The tension in the room builds to breaking point before it's sliced like butter as the band launch into
Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs opener 'Literally Baby', with Sam Cromack yelping "jump up and down, forever!" and the audience happily complying. A blonde girl to my right flings her hair around wildly while juggling a beer. She wears a smile that screams she's having a good time. Nearby, others sway, nod and happily bop along. Like their debut album, Ball Park Music are a band that you can just have fun with. You don't have to overthink or overanalyse their music - just let it sweep you off your feet with its good time vibes. Despite a little tension early on between the band and crowd (I think Sam said someone swiped bassist Jennifer Boyce's bottle of wine?), Ball Park Music quickly stirred things up with their lively stage antics, banter and a generous sound mix.
While they do have their fair share of party anthems, including 'Sad Rude Future Dude' (with its tongue-in-cheek lyrics of 'I haven't had a friend in years, I only have sex with myself', which the crowd enjoyed singing back to the band), Ball Park Music sprinkled slower, more introspective songs throughout the set too. The life-affirming and delightfully uplifting single 'It's Nice to Be Alive' would have been a cigarette-lighters-in-the-air moment were it not an indoor venue, while 'All I Want Is You' drifted along with its heart wrenching lyrics and cruisy pace.
There were a few curveball moments during the evening's proceedings. Although vocalist
Sam Cromack let it slip in an interview with us that he likes 'gloomy music', I still don't think anyone who attended this gig was expecting to hear Marilyn Manson covers. But like any good live band knows, you've got to keep your audience on their toes, and that's exactly what Ball Park did when they ripped into a cover of the shock rocker's classic 'The Beautiful People', complete with a full horn section and that jagged guitar riff. It was an interesting choice for a cover and one that my inner teenager embraced with open arms.
Following a fleeting interlude the band retreated, before coming back on stage for an encore that culminated in the profanity laden 'iFly'. Four letter words can sometimes come off as a little tacky in songs, but hearing a crowd of people all sing `I fucking love you, I think you're pretty' in unison was a special, albeit slightly odd way to finish off Ball Park Music's date with Melbourne.
Words: Jack Pilven