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The Bravery @ The Zoo
17 Jun 2008, 03:37
Tue 10 Jun – The Bravery, Van She
As Twist Oliver, Twist!’s set proceeds, I’m impressed by the band’s intentional ignorance of the several hundred eyeballs focussed on their captivating brand of synth-rock. It’s likely that they’re playing the best show of their short career, but beyond an occasional muttered “thanks”, they’re happy to let their music speak for itself. I’ll draw the short-bow by noting their parallels to the Midnight Juggernauts – clean, punchy basslines, swirling synth sounds and an animated drummer – but their performance tonight is engaging enough to step outside of casual comparisons.
There’s nary a creature stirring at front of stage as Van She open with a bland and uninspired reading of debut EP track, Sex City. Appropriately, a dull performance of one of their few catchy tracks sets the tone for a set that largely fails to rouse a greater crowd response than ‘yawn’. Surely, some among the hundreds gathered here must be enjoying this utterly boring and wholly derivative garbage? But no. I spy girls wearing Van She shirts chatting away without a care for the four men onstage. A band whose image is more palatable than their music? Outstanding.
Thankfully, The Bravery waste no time reminding us what a decently-composed rock song sounds like, because for 40 minutes, I’d all but lost faith in music. They take their positions in the darkness while the sampled introduction to Fearless builds momentum, before Mike Hindert’s taut bassline gets the ball rolling (and rocking, to mix my metaphors). These five New Yorkers haven’t visited our shores since touring their debut album in 2005. The half-full venue suggests that absence hasn’t necessarily made Brisbane’s heart grow fonder; still, those in attendance are among the most passionate crowd witnessed in recent months. Their enthusiasm is no more apparent than the positively enormous response to debut album opener An Honest Mistake. Frontman Sam Endicott’s agitated, restless stage persona contrasts against self-assured lead guitarist Michael Zakarin. It becomes obvious why the latter isn’t the lead singer when he takes the microphone for a rather painful, off-key performance of Sun And The Moon b-side Dandy Rock. Endicott’s cliched “here’s a song I wrote in Australia…” introduction to The Ocean is met with a mostly-unheard “fuck off you did!” quip from a punter up the back. The song’s seemingly U2-inspired theatrics indicates a desire to steer away from the dance-rock tag that the band were born into; yet, the joy that 2005 cut and final encore Unconditional inspires in the audience suggests that it’d be in The Bravery’s popular interest to stay on course.
Rave Magazine
As Twist Oliver, Twist!’s set proceeds, I’m impressed by the band’s intentional ignorance of the several hundred eyeballs focussed on their captivating brand of synth-rock. It’s likely that they’re playing the best show of their short career, but beyond an occasional muttered “thanks”, they’re happy to let their music speak for itself. I’ll draw the short-bow by noting their parallels to the Midnight Juggernauts – clean, punchy basslines, swirling synth sounds and an animated drummer – but their performance tonight is engaging enough to step outside of casual comparisons.
There’s nary a creature stirring at front of stage as Van She open with a bland and uninspired reading of debut EP track, Sex City. Appropriately, a dull performance of one of their few catchy tracks sets the tone for a set that largely fails to rouse a greater crowd response than ‘yawn’. Surely, some among the hundreds gathered here must be enjoying this utterly boring and wholly derivative garbage? But no. I spy girls wearing Van She shirts chatting away without a care for the four men onstage. A band whose image is more palatable than their music? Outstanding.
Thankfully, The Bravery waste no time reminding us what a decently-composed rock song sounds like, because for 40 minutes, I’d all but lost faith in music. They take their positions in the darkness while the sampled introduction to Fearless builds momentum, before Mike Hindert’s taut bassline gets the ball rolling (and rocking, to mix my metaphors). These five New Yorkers haven’t visited our shores since touring their debut album in 2005. The half-full venue suggests that absence hasn’t necessarily made Brisbane’s heart grow fonder; still, those in attendance are among the most passionate crowd witnessed in recent months. Their enthusiasm is no more apparent than the positively enormous response to debut album opener An Honest Mistake. Frontman Sam Endicott’s agitated, restless stage persona contrasts against self-assured lead guitarist Michael Zakarin. It becomes obvious why the latter isn’t the lead singer when he takes the microphone for a rather painful, off-key performance of Sun And The Moon b-side Dandy Rock. Endicott’s cliched “here’s a song I wrote in Australia…” introduction to The Ocean is met with a mostly-unheard “fuck off you did!” quip from a punter up the back. The song’s seemingly U2-inspired theatrics indicates a desire to steer away from the dance-rock tag that the band were born into; yet, the joy that 2005 cut and final encore Unconditional inspires in the audience suggests that it’d be in The Bravery’s popular interest to stay on course.
Rave Magazine
