The Troubadour      Sat Aug 1

My Saturday night movie/dinner/gig program reaches its logical conclusion at the ubiquitous Troub where Brisbane lads New Manic Spree are first on the mostly interstate-dominated bill. Leaving the punter next to me confused in deciding whether “these guys sound like Nintendo or PlayStation music”, the four-piece mix their Muse and Mars Volta influences with more streamlined rock. Frontman Tim Baker and guitarist Edmund Hiew trade crunchy riffs and fluid licks while the former often overpowers the mix with his far-reaching vocals; it’s a solid display that would have benefited even more from a larger crowd presence.

Re-defining the notion of “up shit creek”, a slew of technical problems derails Sydneysiders Le Kingste’s set in a spectacular fashion. After spending half the designated time sorting out the bass rig issue, the progsters have to deal with both keyboards noisily toppling off the stand during the first song. Fed-up singer Paul Kingston then announces the quartet will only play two songs, which they do with never-say-die defiance to a chorus of “More songs!” What a shame such epic bad luck happens sometimes – the King Crimson-ish guitars, broken drum beats and an Adrian Belew-quality stream-of-consciousness rant we get to hear are all rather killer.

Second Sydney band on tonight, melodic pop-rockers Tokenview are the sole non-prog-inflected act on the entire bill. Performing a sequence of strong, close-harmony laden numbers and sporadically switching into three-guitar attack mode, the five- piece sparkle on single What Can I Do and Beautiful Disguise. The Beatles and Dappled Cities echoes resonate throughout, yet the talented combo showcase an impressive assortment of self-authored hooks – expect them to rock your boat soon.

Taking off where Queen left, Melbourne’s rock opera kings [Me] preach to the converted with gusto. Luke Ferris continuously summons Sparks’ Russell Mael with his vocal flights while Damian Tapley’s guitar showmanship is pure ‘70s arena rock; strident piano-led Working Life and Westward Backwards still astound and the now-patented triple drum workout is a deft finishing brush. Magnifico-o-o-o!

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