Boy and Bear live in Sydney
- By Rachel Sibley -
- Jun 12, 2012
The Boy and Bear 'Remembering the Mexican' tour is the band's second tour of the year and their second sold out show in their home town.
Popular Sydney act Tin Sparrow and Brisbane's The Jungle Giants supported the band throughout the tour around the country, setting a great tone for the band themselves. Both with a similar, but not too closely aligned, sound to Boy and Bear, the bands warmed up the audience well, which increased in size as the time for the headlining band to jump on stage grew closer.
The quintet appeared on stage through a haze of stage fog along with the dimming of lights and a swell of the mood music, opening with 'Milk & Sticks', an upbeat, feel-good, tuneful song setting the hands of the audience clapping in tune. Another hit was the band's cover of the well known Crowded House song 'Fall at Your Feet', recorded by the band a couple years ago, and has since became a permanent part of their repertoire.
A few hiccups occurred throughout the set, with lead singer Dave Hosking forgetting a verse to 'Golden Jubilee', afterwards explaining that in every show on the tour he forgets words to a song. An incident with some burning incense also gave the band and audience some amusement, though completely unrelated to their music.
The band describes themselves as “a combination of drivey indie folk and choral harmonies” which is a perfect description of their sound and performance. The pounding drums and strong acoustic guitar sounds create a great sense of suspense in all the band's songs, continually building to a chorus or big song finish.
The suspense in all their music was only heightened in performance, through the drumbeats in particular, and the emotional tension held in the singer's voice. This tension throughout all of their songs came to a head towards the end of their set. One of their most popular and catchy tunes, 'Feeding Line' was an incredible live performance, with every audience member sitting on the edge of their seats, itching to jump up and groove, tap their feet, whatever it took to get involved with the music.
Some in fact did at the bottom of the theatre, dancing on the side in a somewhat dorky, yet carefree manner, interesting of course for the rest of the audience to watch as an alternative from the band themselves. Impressive during the song was lead singer Dave's extraordinary ability to whistle completely in pitch and steadily throughout the whole whistling passage. Leaving this tune and one of their earliest songs 'Mexican Mavis' as part of the last few songs proved a wise choice for the band, leaving audience members buzzing and discussing how entertaining the band was, whilst spilling onto market Street and making their way through the city.
8/10
By Rachel Sibley. Tweets at @rachelsibley
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