The Beautiful Girls

Sunday night? I'd be lying if I said I thought this would actually make any difference to the turnout for the Beautiful Girls gig in Launie last weekend. Having been a fan of these guys since the Falls Festival in '03, I wasn't the least bit surprised to see a decent 500 people or so come along to swivel their hips with the rolling beats and melodies of The Beautiful Girls.

The action got going at about 9:45 when support act, Jez, took to the stage. He came in and started playing so unobtrusively that, to begin with, I thought he was just another sound check guy. But it soon became apparent that this dude could play the guitar formidably well. Jez, a one man act from Byron Bay, impressed everyone with his unique sound, using his guitar and stomp-box to create an infectious beat. Along with this interesting percussion method, his raw vocals and harmonica went down a treat.

Jez's set finished at around 10:30, by which stage the venue had well and truly filled up with Beautiful Girls enthusiasts. The crowd was ripe for the plucking as Brazilian harmonica player, Felipe, was the first TBG member to appear on stage at about 11pm. He was followed shortly afterwards by drummer Mitch Connelly, bassist Clay McDonald and lead singer and guitarist Mat McHugh.

Their opening number was Blackbird from the '04 album Learn Yourself. The next few songs sounded great, including Ashes from their latest album We're Already Gone, but Periscopes had to be the night's winner- judging by the number of people singing along above the guitar-induced groove. Big Mamma's Door was played, to the delight of the crowd, culminating into a frenzied finale which saw Mitch Connelly lose one of his drum sticks. But the band is so laid-back that it didn't even cause a glitch. Bass player Clay McDonald just picked the stick up off the floor and neatly finished the cymbal thrashing for him.

There were a few great harmonica and melodica moments throughout the night from the sexy Brazilian- although Felipe's microphone could have done with a lot more volume. And then came the rollicking feel-good rhythm of Good Times and, rest assured, the crowd lived up to its name. The band showed excellent stage presence, and lead singer Mat McHugh displayed an obvious love of the music, producing passionate vocals that came from the soul and played across his face. This was contrasted by Clay McDonald's extroverted performance- the bare-foot bass player bounced around on stage with inexhaustible energy, egging on the crowd and fellow band members with his cheeky antics.

The Girls ended their set with La Mar before reappearing for their encore. First it was just Mitch Connelly, Jez and a friend of the band introduced as Matt who came on for a dub jam- which sounded good, but got a little boring. This was followed up by McHugh's solo version of God Only Knows (originally by the Beach Boys), and by about 12:40 the whole band re-formed on stage for the last two songs: Summer Time and The Wrong Side of Town, which McHugh jokingly introduced as “Periscopes is Dead” after a guy in the crowd requested Periscopes to be played again.

McHugh stuck to his promise when he said “I don't wanna see you guys go home tonight without having a good time,” and with this combination of pulsing rhythm, emotive vocals and philosophical lyrics, they really couldn't go wrong. Along with their magnetic performance, these guys killed the crowd with dancing.

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