The Duke Spirit Australian tour promoting their sophomore album Neptune has been surrounded by an excitable hype prompting each venue and ticketing agency to reveal their own personal anticipation. On their event page Mostix announced “Wow! We cant believe its actually happening - the mighty Duke Spirit are finally breaking from their relentless UK and US touring to visit their avid fan base down-under!” At the same time it was FasterLouder’s gig of the week.
So it’s no surprise that such candid eagerness evolved into an intoxicating buzz as word of the night jumped from blog to blog and at last it arrived. Before The Oxford Art Factory got an opportunity to open its doors a small bunch of animated fans began to collect on the foot path. As the bouncers pulled back the rope barrier in front of the entrance punters came streaming out of all of the adjacent pubs bringing a lively vibe to to the venue that hadn’t even had a chance to start playing some background music.
It’s always hard to ignore the manufactured cool of The Oxford Art Factory. Brick walls perfectly manicured to look warn and industrial are met with clean sheets of glass and edgy black bench tops. But it all feels so in place when the DJs fire up a few tracks as your crammed between hordes trying to get a few drinks.
Just as I was checking the set times black curtains parted to reveal a stage billowing with smoke and as it began to clear Jack Ladder stepped forward clutching the mic, black guitar hung around his neck. His opening grabbed the attention of a splintered crowd grouped for conversation and his velvety voice turned everyone’s heads in his direction. The recent winner of the Red Bull Award In Recognition Of Outstanding Potential began to really prove his worth. There were tones of blues, soul and rock backed by his pulsating and anguished voice as his awkwardly tall frame writhed knock kneed on stage. It was all going so well until his second song was delayed by a lengthy re-tuning session that led some ungrateful audience members to yell “your first gig mate?” Jack responded politely without making much fuss but the incident seemed to effect his nerves drawing the punchy rock sound away from his unquestionable talent. Instead the rest of his performance was cautiously timid.
Jack Ladder finished his set while the crowd looked upon him with a sense of impatience. Bodies started to pack into the centre of the club quietly searching for the best view. As the striking blond hair of Leila Moss appeared from behind purple smoke and drawn curtains the crowd quivered but never broke out into dance. Amidst fans standing still I watched as Moss’s figured jumped around on stage like the perfect front woman. Throwing about her mic stand in-between innumerable changes of percussion instruments. Her voice filled the room as The Step And The Walk was performed with such character and precision it blew the recorded version of the water. But my personal favourite was a grungey and hard hitting rendition of This Ship Was Built To Last.
The hype was justified. Flawless vocals were backed by a practiced and clinical band standing like thin black pillars around Moss. Luke Ford and Toby Butler kept to their own corners as if they were afraid of being seen. Carefully strumming out each note without a hitch. At first I thought this was simply there ‘look’ but when they both let rip during the encore I couldn’t help but think what could have been had they both been as animated during the whole performance.
I stood, like everyone, in awe and just plain happy to watch some solid rock ‘n’ roll again. The Dukes Spirit are true masters of building up and breaking down rhythm. Each slow ballad seemed like it was perfectly in place. Once all was said and done the band quickly left the stage without to much to say. But looking around me I could tell everyone had just seen a truly great gig.
Published @ www.fasterlouder.com.au
Link: http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/events/17752/The-Duke-Spirit--The-Oxford-Art-Factory-Sydney-260309.htm
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment