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The Troubadour - Sat Aug 28
It must be bizarre opening for a musical comedy act, but Pinky Beecroft does well to warm the crowd with charming between-song banter. The years seem to have mellowed the ex-Machine Gun Fellatio frontman, who appears to be completely at home perched in front of a keyboard playing jazzy piano licks. He performs songs by his new band, The White Russians, which are every bit as thoughtful and slyly catchy as you would expect, as well as Machine Gun Fellatio’s Unsent Letter and a bluesy cover of Blondie’s Call Me.
Despite Tony Abbott’s attempts to turn us against them, the substantial crowd tonight is testament that The Boat People are as popular as ever. The band showcase songs from their new album, Dear Darkly, which suggest a dancier, more synth-driven direction, whilst still maintaining the jangly pop sweetness that we have all learnt to love.
Justin Heazlewood, aka The Bedroom Philosopher, is one funny fellow. For those not familiar with his work, his latest album revolves around Melbourne tram culture and features humourous song titles like We Are Tramily. Northcote (So Hungover) is an instant crowd-pleaser, a song mimicking a pretentious indie kid’s one-sided phone conversation and featuring more puns than a newspaper headline. Yes, he does tend to recycle the same jokes, but by no means does it ever grow old. Musically, the performance is satisfying, owing mostly to his backing band The Awkwardstra. Luckily for him they are ridiculously competent musicians because really, without them, he’s just a guy prancing around on stage quipping jokes and trying miserably to breakdance – not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s hard to know whether he’s a musician, a comedian or a satirist; this reviewer would be inclined to say all three.
TIAN ZHANG
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