Gomez

“Last night a DJ saved my life” or so it goes. Yet, I always thought the aforementioned was awfully melodramatic until I went to see a little ol’ gig at the Espy and a band restored my faith in life (well not life, but humans in general). You see, prior to the gig I witnessed some awfully aggressive behaviour. And so, I found myself feeling a little shaken in the Gershwin Room (and with nerves that were not helped by the constant clanging of bottles being tossed into recycling and breaking) as Gomez performed their “early” show and caused a group of strangers to come together and bond over a trully great album, their debut long-player, Bring It On.

Unfortunately, I missed Epicure’s set as I was stuck waiting in a long queue and baked in Melbourne’s hot evening sun, so upon entry to the venue I was instead met with around thirty minutes of recorded music and an empty stage. As a few band members and roadies tinkered with the musical instruments at varying points and others were assembled like a boys club at the side of stage it was finally time for a quick and sneaky shot of the crowd and the beginning of “Round 1”- the Mercury Prize winning Bring It On played sequentially in all its finery.

From the start of Get Miles it was apparent that Ben Ottewell (vocals/guitars) did not require a microphone such was the power of his voice, as it reached out to the furthest recesses of the room and rose above a crowd who happily bopped along in appreciation. This was followed by the giant sing along, Whippin’ Piccadilly, which was so much fun I felt I had died and gone to heaven and my sentiments were shared by my fellow punters who applauded very loudly at the end of the song.

The third song – which goes without saying – was Make No Sound. Boasting the lyric “There’s beauty” it became a curious case of life imitating art as the song WAS beautiful in all its raw and powerful acoustic lushness. Here, Ottewell’s voice was extremely spectacular and made me think his genes could be partially inherited from the likes of Eric Burdon (The Animals) and John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival). Plus, I didn’t think they made singers like that anymore and I found myself enjoying the moment and loving the resonance so much that I wanted to bottle the sounds and sell it to Australian Idol contestants. But then I came to my senses and began to question why I would want to assist that waste of broadcasting space.

Some awesome distortion last seen in Neil Finn’s Twisty Bass punctuated 78 Stone Wobble while Tijuana Lady provided a sweet interlude with accompaniment in the form of stomp boxes and keen whistling.

Here Comes The Breeze may include lyrics about escaping but this crowd were certainly not going anywhere. Meanwhile, Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone felt like an acid trip down memory lane to the peace and free love of the sixties with the assembled throng of shiny, happy people smiling on their brothers and learning to love one another before the drunk anthem, Get Myself Arrested. The latter was complete with a heavy drum showdown courtesy of Messer Olly Peacock.

There was the slow burn of Free To Run before the extra-special Bubble Gum Years and a song introduction by Tom Gray (guitars/vocals/keyboards) for Rie’s Wagon where he declared it “long, fat and ugly but all the more beautiful for it”. The result was it seemed a little sensual with fancy guitars wailing in delight before a quick segue into the short burst of The Comeback. The band left the stage after this and received rapturous applause as people stamped on the wood floor partially in gratitude at hearing the album in full and also to cajole the boys back on stage for just a couple more songs.

An encore followed with new song, Airstream Driver plus a request was honoured with See The World. Finally, In Our Gun signalled the end of the show by culminating in some heavy guitar work as the band obliterated the stage and left us in a cloud of haze and wall of sound.

In all, the night was a really wonderful and memorable experience with people connecting over an exceptional album. And as we left the Espy to make room for people who were fortunate enough to own tickets for the sold out “late night” screening I’m sure we were all kicking ourselves that we couldn’t stick around and watch the aural spectacle unfold once again.

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