The Sleepy Jackson

A band like The Sleepy Jackson, with an album making the top 10 and another nearly selling gold, would surely be able to play a venue bigger than the Wollongong UniBar, with capacity for several hundred. Unfortunately, the next step up doesn't exist in Wollongong, so until they are big enough to fill WIN Entertainment Centre, they are stuck with such a venue. Not that tickets sold out anyway.

The evening begins with the unannounced band Mirror Sessions, who recently won Wollongong University's band competition. They play lots of loud progressive rock and indicate that they are competent musicians. However, their songs were much like the third Lord of the Rings movie. They would be a lot stronger if they didn't drag out the ending. All of the numbers in their set would have been much better if they were much shorter. The audience's response was polite but not enthusiastic, the only people remotely near the stage were two (probably under the influence) dancers who proved more entertaining than the band.

The Panda Band quickly got the crowd moving towards the stage, and by 'Sleepy Little Deathtoll Town', their second song, plenty of people were moving around. The sound quality was a bit poor, the bass coming in too heavy and too distorted, and the keyboards and backing vocals could barely be heard at all.

Halfway through their set one punter called out for them to play 'Khe Sanh'. The lead singer replied with a rather curt "Why don't you get a cover band together and start playing gigs, and the next time I'm in Wollongong, you can send me a free ticket, and I'll come watch you play 'Khe Sanh'."

The sound problems facing the Panda Band were amended in time for The Sleepy Jackson, who started their set with an enthusiastic 'Devil In My Yard'. The favourites from both Lovers and Personality: One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird came fast and to a engaged audience. No more engaged was one drunken punter who repeatedly screamed out "Yeah Sleepy Jackson" every few seconds, obviously annoying frontman Luke Steele. For the most part the Sleepies overcame the burden of having their sophomore album so heavily orchestrated and produced, substituting the Phil Spector wall-of-sound with a funky indie-rock wall-of-noise. Best of all was the poptastic 'I Understand What You Want But I Just Don't Agree'.

The concert lost some momentum in the middle, with Steele's voice faultering on the live favourite 'Pack of Nails', and forgetting lyrics on the ballad 'Miles Away', but the band stormed home with triumphant renditions of 'Vampire Racecourse' and 'Play A Little Bit For Love'. The Sleepy Jackson are developing into a top-class live band, and the crowd's response was proof.

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