“The Great Escape” time has arrived! Well, it would have had it not been cancelled much to my dismay. In its place is the barrage of remaining “sideshows.” The first of these happened last night with Ladytron from the UK hitting the all ages Metro stage, in what was surprisingly their first ever concert in Sydney (unsurprisingly it was sold out as a result). But moving back on to the surprising: the crowd seemed to lack the regular Sydney “dancing-on-pills” crowd, which was definitely welcomed, although there was certainly less crowd energy than you’re used to. But maybe it was just Monday-itis, and they were actually present, camouflaged in “normality”. It’s not often you attend a concert that night of the week, after all, even during Uni/School holidays.
First up was Familjen, who were performing as a duo … although I thought it was going to be just the one guy (sort of like THE E.L.F. styles). Kind of sounded like Presets meets Dungen. And if that comparison means anything to you, then you are one awesome cookie. But despite the fact these are both great bands (“band” used loosely for the former), that still didn’t mean Familjen’s music was anything to write home about. I’m not going to lie… the songs the DJs were playing in between their set and Ladytron were actually more entertaining. Maybe I just have to listen to his album and know exactly what it’s all about, but I just wasn’t too hot on the tracks I heard. I did say the same thing about the Presets when I first heard them though, and now I’m a massive fan – so perhaps an album listen is definitely required. But it’s hard to sing along in Swedish! You know, that’s probably the problem.
Finally Ladytron came to the stage to deafening applause. OK, so maybe there wasn’t much Monday-itis after all. The gang launched straight into some of their most well known songs, jumping into Runaway, Seventeen and the amazing Ghosts surprisingly early in the set. And with those being the main songs I went to hear, it didn’t take long after that point for their music to get a bit repetitive. I guess that just comes down to my personal experience and knowledge of the band, however. Those who knew every song and every album I’m sure were enjoying every moment. But that said, there were definitely quite a few stand-out moments in the remainder of the set, especially in the encore, and Mira and Helen in particular sounded amazing and were performing with great energy.
But I think it’s fair to say that they didn’t really go beyond what you hear on the album, which you usually expect from these sorts of groups. I mean even The Presets transform their tracks surprisingly well for the live environment, and there are only two of them! But perhaps they were playing it safe for an audience who had never seen them live before… I certainly don’t doubt they’re capable of pulling off more.
All in all, I have to say I left a bit underwhelmed. Ghosts, Runaway and Seventeen were superb live, and the crowd definitely responded to these tracks the best… as well as Destroy Everything You Touch in the encore which did sound surprisingly amazing in the live environment. But the rest of the night, including the support act, just wasn’t anything special, especially considering it could have been a lot more.
Maybe it was Monday-itis for them as well.
