One of the best things about getting into a band before anyone else in town is that every now and then you’ll get an opportunity to see said band for free. But usually this isn’t a privilege extended to fans of a band from, say, Philadelphia! Yesterday, however, an exception was made, and The Filth’s free Wednesday night at the Beach Road Hotel joined forces with Love Police to bring us quite a special evening indeed.
First up, ironically from Sydney, were Philadelphia Grand Jury, a band who have been enjoying the airwaves of late with their song “Going to the Casino Tomorrow Night,” which created one of those “Oh wait a minute! I know this band!” sort of moments; energizing a crowd who had, up until that point, either remained relatively still, or had been up the back drinking. And what followed the single was probably the highlight of the entire night for me: “I Don’t Wanna Party,” which became a jam session in which the band members threw themselves onto the drum kit, their instruments into each other and ran around the crowd to dance with unsuspecting foreigners.
These guys really are a fantastic live band.
As I appear to have jumped the gun a bit, the preceding set was just as energetic (however restrained to the stage), and they do everything they can to have a bit of fun with it all. Of particular note is the fact that they pre-record the banter, to which a mate of mine exclaimed “wow, you can’t even tell they’re talking right now!”
Certainly a unique addition to an already fun set, and a smart move on their part: it’s something to keep the kids talking! All this in mind, I’ll definitely be checking them out again sometime soon. It appears shameful that it took me this long to see them as it is.
Next up were the main act of the night, all the way from the real Philadelphia, Dr. Dog. With the humidity in the room cranked up to 11, the band were dripping sweat before they even picked up their guitars, as was the crowd. The majority of the following setlist was consumed by their latest LP, Fate, with a few “Golden Oldies” (their word, not mine) thrown in there from time to time, including “Oh No”, which I remember getting a bit of radio play a few year back. In fact, the set was so consumed by Fate that the only song they didn’t play off the album was “Uncovering the Old”. And for someone as familiar with the new album as I, this came without any objection, keeping me singing along right until the set closer, the fantastic “The Rabbit, the Bat and the Reindeer.” And by this stage I was so sweaty and ready to get some fresh air that I was relived it was over.
Now while I certainly enjoyed the set, it must admit that it was hard not to be distracted. The biggest problem, after all, with having a free gig at a bar (especially one as large as this) is that very few people are actually there to see the band. If you’re close enough, the sound is just loud enough to drown out the background noise, so that’s not much of an issue, even for some of the softer numbers. But what this does affect the atmosphere… you hear people behind you saying “who the hell are these guys? they suck!” and suddenly the area you’re standing in becomes thoroughfare.
Now I can’t really complain, it is a free gig after all, but at the same time you really can’t experience a band you love in the way that you should. And the fact that the front section wasn’t air conditioned didn’t help.
And as for the band’s presence and talent, I can’t say I was too impressed with that either… especially after experiencing Philadelphia’s other recent export “Man Man” last month. For music as elaborate as their own, it would have felt pertinent to get a bit creative now and then. But they pretty much just stuck to the chords they knew. Sometimes this paid off beautifully, with “The Way The Lazy Do” being one of many of particular mentions, but other times this felt like it just came out a bit too flat and meddled, with “Army of Ancients” and “The Breeze” losing a lot of the power I felt on the album.
All in all, I left Beach Road Hotel happy for the fresh air (I should point out it was still about 30 degrees when I entered the venue at 9pm, so this was a particularly hot day), glad to have finally seen Dr. Dog live, but also realising that the highlight of the night were Philadelphia Grand Jury. A band, unlike Dr. Dog it seems, who make music brewed in and for the live scene.
