Short and sweet: The Tote blesses us with yet another amazing concert.

Up first, Sarah Bethe Nelson charmed the crowd with her smoky vocals while being backed by Stoltz multitasking and swapping between guitar and drums.  After starting in front of a fairly empty Tote, by the end of her set there was a healthy gathering of fans nodding, smiling and clapping in appreciation of a set that ultimately felt too short.

Dick Diver played a solid set of mesmerising melodic songs, made even more impressive for the fact that they were playing with a fill in bass player. Ample use of a guitar slide gave their songs a very relaxed vibe as the two guitarists swapped lead vocal roles. It was when they both sang gang vocals that they really took it to a new level, with the addition of female vocals from their drummer giving their harmonies another rich layer. 

Next came Spiral Stairs, in what must be one of his last intimate gigs before the much hyped Pavement reunion occurs. The set drew mainly from 2009’s The Real Feel album, as songs such as True Love and Maltese Terrier were mixed in with other songs such as Folk Singer, and a new track called The Moodists, which faltered with a false start before being delivered perfectly. Spiral seemed to be in a great mood, getting into the feel of each song and keeping the mood light with his interaction with the rest of the band. Before their final song he quipped “This is the last time you’ll hear this song played this well” before they ended with Kennel District.

Kelley Stoltz was performing under similar circumstances to Spiral, with a backing band of local muso’s. He’d recruited Dick Diver’s drummer, ECSR’s Mikey Young, and Julian Wu, who didn’t really need to leave the stage after having just played with Spiral Stairs. Again the band was tight as they backed Stoltz, who commanded our attention from the get go.  Wu bought some great textures to the live show as he accentuated the songs with a combination of 12 string guitar and keyboards. After asking the crowd ‘Do you want to rock n roll with me?”, Stoltz then has his backing band sit down, as he played two much quieter numbers including Morning Sun. He gave a quick plug for the upcoming acoustic show at the Retreat (in the beer garden… perfect) and then the band finished.

I’m sure there are reasons for it, but the short notice of the gig was its major problem. If this had been advertised fully, the place would have sold out and I wouldn’t have been able to sit on the steps of the pit and soak up the great music on display. Maybe the lack of build-up was a good thing then?