UPCOMING
Welcome
THE SMITH STREET BAND AT AUDIO, 14.07.16Perched atop a stool before a rare sold-out Audio crowd, Wil Wagner of The Smith Street Band doesn’t let an injured leg slow him down. Having narrowly missed their 2015 show at the same venue I have high hopes for the night: the three band bill is impressively smooth, with supports WOAHNOWS and Apologies, I Have None building a strong foundation of catchy riffs and manic performances, each drawing a substantial audience in themselves. When the headliners finally grace the stage the small space is really starting to heave; It’s only down to the incredible friendliness of the people along the front that I manage to hold my place between the speakers at all. There’s a few girls directly to my left who have clearly made good use of the venue bar already, but they’re in good spirits, and thankfully don’t cause too much mayhem before the lights dim. The band kick off with the cheerily titled ‘I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore’. It’s an energetic start and despite the thick Australian accent of their frontman sometimes masking the words, the crowd set the tone for the evening by roaring back every syllable with gusto. If anything the atmosphere only builds as Smith Street rip through a set of both more recent tracks and old fan favourites, broken not even by the debut of brand new song ‘Death To The Lads’. It’s a scathing commentary on the culture of toxic masculinity within the scene and seems to go down well with a crowd that’s pleasantly diverse. One of the aforementioned half-cut girls and I even share something of a moment during encore-opener ‘Throw Me In The River’: she throws her arm around my shoulder and as Wagner husks “Say something sweet / say something nice to me” just inches away, I come to a conclusion. It’s not just the punchiness of the guitar-work. It’s not the sharp wit of the lyricism either. There’s an odd quality of closeness that envelopes the night, like a slightly too big jumper passed down from an older sibling, and that’s what makes it really stand out. They tear through set-closer ‘Young Drunk’ and all too soon the stage is being dismantled and the room thinning out. With a back-catalogue as robust as theirs there are a few more tracks I could have done with hearing, but having seen shorter sets at venues ten times the size, you can’t complain too much, and I’d feel comfortable saying that the enthusiasm of the band members and the buzz of the crowd more than made up for it. When I finally leave for Central station just before midnight it’s as a hoarse, sweaty, slightly more fulfilled human being. SETLIST.I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore Get High, See No One |