Fresh off the back of a tour through Texas, New York and London, local Perth boys The Panics round up the end of a 25 day national tour at a sold out gig at Club Capitol.
First offerings of the night were The City Watch, also local boys, who played to a steadily filling room that was still buzzing with light conversation as they failed to capture the attention of the majority. As they played the mellow sounds of indie-folk-rock, it became increasingly obvious that their forte was probably not performing live. Aside from the fact that frontman Brad Wetherall was a little hard to understand; even when he wasn’t singing, the band as a whole didn’t seem to have the stage energy or presence to make it as engaging as it could have been. By the end of their set, a quick glance around the room revealed the same facial expression on everyone – the kind of vacant stare you get when you watch T.V. for too long. As far as a support band goes, The City Watch were decent, a good match for the headliners but just a touch forgettable.
Anyone who had never seen or heard of Little Red before probably didn’t know what to expect as they stepped out onto the stage. Surprising everyone with their catchy 60’s-we-love-Beach-Boys style and four piece harmonies, these guys had the crowd bopping along and moving their feet to their hook laden tunes such as It’s Alright and Coca-Cola. Another appealing attribute was that they alternated between Tom Hartney, Adrian Beltrame (guitar) and Quang Dinh (bass) as lead vocalists which is a definite change from the norm and everyone was enjoying themselves as much as the band were.
When The Panics first released Cruel Guards in October last year, few anticipated the massive response that earned them a stack of awards including the Triple J album of the year. They have enjoyed sold out shows all over the country- tonight was no exception.
Playing all the stuff from their new album and a bit of older material, they opened with Something In The Garden and with a giant smile, Jae Laffer said; “We’ve been trying to sell this place out for ages.” And while the hardcore fans of the new album were up front singing along to every track, the songs they’ve had flogged on the radio in recent months were obvious when it came to crowd singalongs. Feeling Is Gone and Don’t Fight It had the best reception assisted by a trumpeter who was only referred to as Jimmy the Lips “A really good kisser” Laffer said with a laugh. Fans of The Panics’ 2005 album Sleeps Like A Curse were treated to a couple old faves like Twin Sisters and My Best Mistake that had the packed crowd going nuts from the very first recognisable note.
There’s something so organic and relaxed about this band; you get a very natural vibe off them when they’re on stage, as if this is where they feel most comfortable. The down-to-earth Laffer’s warmth draws the masses in closer, while his cheekiness creates friendly banter between band members and people in the crowd. Backing vocals by Julian Douglas hadn’t gone unnoticed, with Douglas also on keys and guitar, added the depth that turned a good set into a great one.
They finished up their set with Get Us Home which got them the adulation they deserved, but of course, they were coming back for the encore. They came back after the short break, shrugging and nodding in that “yeah, you knew we’d be back” kind of way.
Fire on the Hill from their debut full length album took punters way back to ’03 but in what was supposed to be the big finale, things started to go wrong. Drew Wootton couldn’t get his guitar to work, so after several attempts to fix it, awkward looks, laughs and disapproving headshakes from Laffer and Myles Wootton (drums), Drew gave up and started dancing around in a very hillbilly-hick fashion which the crowd loved and cheered on. Props to Drew for great improvising. They carried on without Drew’s guitar and a broken string on Douglas’ and sounded great anyway and no-one could’ve asked for more.
