Birds of Tokyo

First thing that strikes you about this gig is having a quite well known and successful American import supporting an Australian band around the country. Birds of Tokyo made some rather ambitious calls to the management of Silversun Pickups asking whether they'd be interested in touring with them on their upcoming Australian tour. They claim they didn't expect to hear back. The Pickups graciously accepted the offer to support “Birds” on their tour, including the opportunity to visit (and play in) Tasmania for the first time, at the Wrest Point Casino.

Given the concert was on a Sunday night and after the (first) draining grand final, luckily it started earlier than usual. The first support act, The Chemist took the largely unassuming crowd by surprise and played like consummate professionals despite the fact I imagine the vast majority of the crowd had never heard of them. That is until the final song of their set when they played 'Stars', a song that has been featured quite regularly on Triple J of late.

The reception Silversun Pickups received upon entering the stage suggested that much of the crowd had shelled out nearly sixty dollars because they were also on the bill. They got straight into it, playing their unique style of music that is nearly impossible to pigeonhole into one genre. Their live performance is suitably different as well. All band members look nothing alike and seeing them together at the airport the next day, if I had not known who they were, I would never suspect them to be in a band together.

Singer Brian Aubert's stage presence was something out of left field. He combined shyness during songs with outgoing audience engagement between tracks. He also looks strangely familiar, something of a cross between Jim Carey (his mannerisms too at times) and Jim Adkins, the frontman of fellow American band Jimmy Eat World. Their drummer was energetic and attracted lots of attention with a remarkably high cymbal and lots of lifting his right drum stick high in the air when playing.

Despite looking rather like a bunch of misfits, they played with a lot of energy. Unfortunately the androgynous vocals of Brian Aubert failed to cut through the noise of other instruments. Although the words of their songs are usually hard to pick when listening to their studio recordings anyhow, the mixing at the venue was not the greatest either and was too loud even when at the back of the auditorium. It is extremely frustrating when even after paying top dollar, the sound technicians can't get it right.

While many punters had been excited to see Silversun Pickups, there was no mistaking the fact that the crowd had not forgotten who the main act was when they waltzed nonchalantly onto the stage. They begun playing 'The Unspeakable Scene' from their new self-titled album with little fuss. An interesting first song choice as it is more a delicate than an explosive song.

From the start of this song and right the way through, singer Ian Kenny's vocals were spot on. He has terrific pitch and an amazing power for someone so skinny. One of the first things that I noticed about him was how different he was onstage compared to when fronting Karnivool. One of my friends nearby, stated that there was a little bit of Peter Garrett thrown into his stage act. This was pretty much spot on, although perhaps two parts Garrett and one part Joe Cocker is a fairer assessment.

Birds of Tokyo similarly look quite the odd bunch put together onstage. They did however, put on one hell of a performance. Bizarre stage presence, audience interaction and participation and a lot of energy resulting in a blitzing set. Longer than I expected, the “Birds” played more songs off their debut album 'Day One' than I, and probably most people would have expected them to. The best song from that debut, 'Wayside' was the highlight of the set, with Kenny getting the crowd to sing along for much of chorus.

The audience seemed to respond well to tracks off the new album as well. 'Wild at Heart' and 'The Saddest Thing I Know' being memorable. Current single, that was recently introduced to a wider audience on channel nine's Grand Final Footy Show, 'Plans' received such a rapturous reception, it was no wonder that the keyboardist teased the audience by playing a few notes half way through the set. They instead held onto it until the second last song.

Probably the only bad thing (in my opinion) about their set was the unacceptable length of time the band waited before coming back on to treat the, nothing short of adoring, fans to their encore. They eventually did come back out to play two more songs, including a brilliant performance of 'Broken Bones'.

Having heard nothing but good things about their life shows, this gig delivered everything I expected and showed Birds of Tokyo's capability of putting on one of the best live shows in the country.

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