CANBERRA: The Great Impression Tour, ANU Bar, March 24
REVIEWER: Rubi Tuesday.
LINEUP: Sparkadia w/ Operator Please and Alpine.
SHOOTER: Ben Davies [see gallery]
Sparkadia have recently unleashed their brand spanking new album, The Great Impression and with it, a string of live dates to push it into the spotlight.
The first stop of the tour was Canberra, playing at the newly renovated ANU Bar on Thursday night, bringing with them in support, pop-tastic Operator Please and sweet sounding Alpine.
In true style, I arrived late and only caught the end of Alpine’s set. I wish I had gotten there earlier to see the whole thing. They sounded fantastic and looked so damn cute.
After a long wait and a fight to the bar, Operator Please took to the stage with a meek welcome from the crowd. I’ve seen these guys multiple times before, and this was probably the most half arsed reception I have ever witnessed. They seemed like an odd choice to support, and the reaction from the crowd reflected it.
They opened with Volcanic, off their 2010 release Gloves and followed it with a brand new song Touch, fresh from their new album, which is still in production. They played a couple of more tracks from the album, then another new one called Closer, (‘…you know I’m cool with you, yeah your cool with me, so come on get a little close’). The crowd liked what they heard, heads bobbing along, not quite ready to fully commit themselves to dancing.
After a few more new tracks, Operator Please flung into Just A Song About Ping Pong and finally got the crowd dancing and clapping along. I always find it hilarious to see big, rough footy head type guys belting out the lyrics and awkwardly dancing along, loving every second of it. This Thursday night, they seemed to be out in force. Just a Song about Ping Pong was the only song that Operator Please played that stopped the crowd chatter.
They played two more tracks before they finished up, but I had lost interest by this point and wandered away to fight for a spot at the bar.
Sparkadia wandered on stage, each wearing different shades of black, with a seemingly eighties vibe illuminating from their hair. The only original member – the creative force behind Sparkadia – Alexander Burnett, takes his place centre stage, ready to deliver his new album, The Great Impression. The band Burnett picked up from England are clear professionals and delivered a strong, tight set, beautifully complimenting and working with Burnett’s voice
Sparkadia started slow with Kiss of Death and immediately the crowd is clapping along and filling up in front of the stage. It gets everyone singing along, or at least trying to, and in a comfortable happy place.
‘We uh… didn’t expect so many [people]. So, uh, thanks for coming. It’s a lovely suprise”. – Alexander Burnett
After a few more tracks from their debut album Postcards, (Too Much To Do, Up In The Air, Morning Light), Burnett takes a moment and introduces the next song by saying “…sometimes you don’t know when something is going to be amazing – thanks for voting for this tune,” and breaking into Falling Down Stairs. It gets the crowd into a dancing, singing frenzy. The ANU Bar turns into a sweat pit, much like I imagine hell would be, but in this case – with a sweet soundtrack. I am not envious at all of the bands long sleeve shirts at this point.
Sparkadia play a couple of new tracks, and then announce that they’ll be doing a cover of a song that should probably never be covered. I could not for the life of me work out what song it was, so I asked a friend and he replied with a big grin on his face – it was Kelis featuring David Guetta, ‘Accapella’. I still had no idea what he was talking about. To the untrained ear of commercial music, it could have been a Sparkadia original that didn’t make the cut for The Great Impression. Big 80’s/Sparkadia sound dripping all over it.
The crowd loses their minds, and most of their voices, when they start playing China. Honestly, China is my least favourite track. It sounds like it spent too much time with John Farnham and the mid 90’s. The riff, the big breakdown, the big, round sounding drums. It could be a GirlTalk remix of 90’s rock ballads they did a cover of. BUT in saying this, people LOVE this song. It got one of the best reactions from the crowd and there wasn’t a moment when people weren’t belting out the words.
The next song calms people down a bit, a slow love song. The crowd begins to lose interest before Burnett says ‘it’s gonna be like a Jerry Springer episode’ and pulls out Animals. Mary is played next and the band thanks the crowd and then it’s the faux end of the show. I roll my eyes. We all know we are going to get an encore, and it doesn’t actually matter how loud we all scream, they are coming back out anyway. What happened to encores people worked for and bands didn’t plan for! Encores need to be earned! Not expected. It’s become too much of a regular occurrence in live music. – end of rant-
The crowd screams as Sparkadia jump back on stage. They play another track off the new album and finish up with the much loved classic, Jealousy. The song ends with a bit of a jam session and they take their final bow.
As I shuffle out towards the door, I notice a very sweaty Burnett positioned at the merch table signing shirts and getting photos with devoted fans. Not many acts still do this, especially straight off stage, and it was nice to see he still enjoys talking to the people who love his music.
Overall, Sparkadia delivered a wonderful set, with the right balance of new and old tracks. The new line up worked well, but it was at times, very clear that Sparkadia was Burnett, and the band were simply doing their job. They didn’t share that same passion for the music that Burnett clearly had, which is understandable considering Sparkadia is essentially Burnett’s project now.
At the end of the gig I was left satisfied, voiceless and humming along to my favourite Sparkadia track.
Review by Rubi Tuesday.
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