Sydney’s Andy Bull has achieved quite a lot of recognition through the release of The Phantom Pains EP last year, but it is only now that he has been able to head out on his own headlining tour to support it. After months of performing some impressive support acts for both international and local touring artists, Bull’s experience as a live performer was brought to Adelaide for the second time this year and didn’t fail to impress.

For a Thursday night, there seemed to be a steady amount of people to walk through Jive’s doors, with a small yet keen crowd assembling for the opening act the 20th Century Graduates. The energetic seven-piece are known about town for their layered and upbeat indie pop tunes and tonight was no different. The show, especially important for the band as it signified the final show for vocalist and guitarist Alex Ciaravolo, was entertaining and performed with a great level of enthusiasm, despite being the first of two support acts. 20th Century Graduates are a band who I’d only seen for the first time recently and while I wasn’t vibing on them as much as I would have liked then, they definitely kicked it up a notch tonight.

Next up was Spring Skier, the side project of Kane Mazlin and Remy Boccalatte, two members of Brisbane’s Hungry Kids of Hungary. The amount of people in Jive had grown considerably by the time Kane and Remy took up stools on the stage, armed with only an acoustic guitar, keyboard and harmonica. Immediately establishing that they wouldn’t be playing any tunes akin to those of HKOH, Spring Skier knocked me off my feet. The duo produced a set riddled with beautiful harmonies and acoustic melody, something I was not expecting from the two at all. The sound quality was a bit rocky the entire time, but for the most part, Mazlin and Boccalatte held their own. Performing tracks off their debut record We Are Astronomers, Spring Skier only seemed to hold the attention of about half the crowd, while the rest of the people either spent their time chattering or at the bar, which was slightly disappointing. The stripped back nature of Spring Skier meant that both vocalists had the chance to demonstrate their impressive vocal range, something which fans of Hungry Kids would already be aware of, but here it was presented in a much more intense and intimate manner. By the end of their set, more people seemed to have tuned in to what was happening onstage and gave the duo a decent reception.

By the time Andy Bull and his band-mates set up their instruments and were ready to kick off, I had a look around at the people gathered tonight. A decent mix of people of different ages and, while Jive had by no means sold out, there was a comfortable sized crowd. Performing songs of The Phantom Pains EP, as the tour name would suggest, Bull once again proved to me why he is being touted as one of the country’s more interesting and talented vocalists and songwriters. Now touring and making music with guitarist Alex Bennison and Dave Jenkins Jr, it was clear from watching them play tonight that Bull and these two definitely click well as a band. Throwing banter back and forth with each other and the audience, it just seemed like we were watching three mates messing about and playing their music; there were no egos or rock and roll wankery that you can sometimes come across as a punter, Bull and co made an atmosphere really comfortable to be a part of. While his cover of the Tears For Fears song ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ and ‘Last Waltz’ (performed with Spring Skier and Larissa from 20th Century Graduates) remained my own personal highlights of the set, Bull also performed some new material that he and his band have been working on recently, which went down well.

Playing a few more dates before the tour ends, Andy Bull gave us a night of great tunes and stories, both of which I was expecting after having seen him in action a few times before. He seems to improve vocally with each show and was clearly comfortable with interacting with the audience tonight as the headlining performer.