Tame Impala

The Tivioli is a magical venue that has the ability to create intimacy despite a thousand strong crowd. The warm lighting and mezzanine level allow patrons to gaze out over the sea of excitable fans below. Tame Impala is headlining tonight but the energy is somewhat subdued.

The John Steel Singers are warming the crowd with their catchy tunes and loveable lyrics. I glance up at the guitarist Luke, and remember a time before he was famous, rolling cigarettes on Zig Zag Street with a pocketful of intelligent dreams. How different our paths have turned out.

I glance around at the crowd, overwhelmingly indie in that nauseating way. They have the hair and the glasses and the attitude of what’s not cool, is cool. But then it is cool if everyone is wearing it, and then I get confused.

The crowd appreciates the intelligence of a band like The John Steel Singers; the crafty musicians with their clean chords and pop melodies. And to their credit, this is a band that is technically gifted. The songs are instantly likeable, and allow you to bop around in a dorkish way.

As the stage clears for Tame Impala, the crowd remains patient and polite. I begin to feel as if I am actually in the 70s; technicolour dresses swirl around me and the sound effects kick in.

‘It’s not meant to be’ opens the set with enthusiasm and engages the spacey spectators. The psychedelically smooth sound of this soulful four piece casts a trance like spell on their captive audience.

They play all of the favourites with casual glamour; ‘Solitude is bliss’, ‘Lucidity’, ‘I don’t really mind’. Kevin Parker leads the band, standing upstage of his seemingly shy mates and crooning to the crowd. There is little vocal interaction with the fans; the band seems to be connecting telepathically through the secret haze swallowed by the crowd.

I descend the stairs to the lower level in order to move amongst the people. ‘Desire be desire go’ gets the crowd dancing and the mood lifts considerably as feet being to shuffle.

Overall, the set list comprises of a clever mix of the 2008 EP and the full-length album, Innerspeaker. Tame Impala are generous to their fans, treating them to the always well-received cover of ‘Woman of the Ghetto’(Remember me), originally sung by soul diva Marlena Shaw in 1969.

The closing song in absence of an encore is everybody’s favourite, and the one that saw these boys burst onto the music scene. ‘Half full glass of wine’ is as simple as it is brilliant and seals the gig as a success.

One stylish fan flops down besides me and gives her version of the experience. “Basically everyone comes here banged and it’s fucking amazing. It’s really lovely”. I’m not sure that I could have said it better.

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