It's not everyday you see a frail, pixie-haired songstress take the stage with an enormous double bass, two cellos and a drummer as accompaniment. It's even rarer to see the songstress switch from keys to a cello mid-performance. Simmons stunned the crowd with her soaring vocals and quiet manner, announcing each song before she played and doing her best on a slightly out of tune instrument.
Follow up Melbourne band Oh Mercy took the stage shortly after, with a high standard to follow. With a retro sound and interesting style, they were a good transition into what we knew was the final set. However, the performance was marred by the run-on sound of the order of the tracks played (which, due to the similar sounds of songs, meant it was sometimes difficult to tell one song from another), the impersonal style which resulted and a group of highly inconsiderate fans who stood directly in front of the stage (as well as standing in the toilet line, which you'd think would get through to them after twenty or thirty people had tried to get past) and blocked the view of at least a dozen people sitting along the wall.
After the break Hungry Kids of Hungary took the stage to a booked out house, highly impressive considering the effects of Tuesday-itis. Starting slow and urging the crowd to stand after a few songs, the Hungry Kids personality and joking interactions with the crowd were a hit. Noteworthy moments were the two instances crowd-members were pulled on stage to tambourine, including a birthday boy (who seemed rather tipsy), Skinny Sam from Skinny Jean and a photographer. Lead Dean's guitar string snapped part way through a track, leading to a quick guitar change. A lover's tiff with keyboardist Kane over how awesome having a sold out house before the amusingly appropriate final song "Good Times. Called back for an encore amidst thunderous applause, the boys impressed with a rocking cover before taking their leave, insisting that the crowd should never ask for an encore again.
Overall a highly enjoyable night - I highly recommend anyone to catch any of these bands if they can.
On a final note - if you haven't yet picked up Edward Guglielmino's cd "Late at Night" make a point of asking him for one if he's working the door at the Troub - the look on his face when I asked was priceless, along with his reply of "what, one of mine?" when I asked if he had any with him. Well worth it :D
All for now
AJ
