This was the first time I’d walked into the downstairs
Enmore Theatre with the place engulfed with red cushioned chairs. Due to the
sedative and seductive music of the night – it couldn’t be more appropriate and
expected. Once the seats were barely half full, opening band Dirt Blue Gene
roared off into their dreamy soundscapes.

I hadn’t heard anything about this
band prior to tonight, and after ten minutes of atmospheric sounds I was convinced
they were purely instrumental. Most of the time it felt like midsections of
early Pink Floyd recordings, especially with the magnificent lap steel playing
and the strained vocals. Their sound was leaning towards a fusion of country
and post rock with the slow-burning ballads dripping in organ and guitar twangs
that featured many a build up and dramatic collision of hypnotic rhythms. It
all felt a bit similar towards the end, but you get that with every band you
see with no prior listening before a live show. They set the mood for the night
nicely.

Next up was the acclaimed guitarist of one of Australia’s most loved
bands, The Dirty Three. Mick Turner was joined with the superb drummer Jeff Wegener
from The Laughing Clowns and an accompanied bassist for his collection of
guitar based instrumentals. Their performance clarified a few things, one of
them being that Jeff Wegener is one of Australia’s best drummers (which was
already known) and that Mick Turner sounded exactly like one member of The
Dirty Three playing solo (which was expected). This isn’t exactly a bad thing
either, especially when there were a few notable extras along the way.

Turner
used all sorts of looping pedals and obscure tempo changes to add bits of
variety to his guitar work, which became borderline lyrical at times. It was
still much more exciting than Joe Satriani or Steve Vai. He even used a bow
(possibly belonging to one Mr. Warren Ellis) on his guitar, which isn’t so abnormal these days –
but instead of having it sound like a roaring Icelandic ocean like Sigur Ros.
It sounded like a rusty old swing set blowing in the wind. And it was awesome.

Gaining cult-acclaim in the early nineties with Mazzy Star, Hope Sandoval never
made it out to Australia with her dreamy country folk before their demise after
just three albums. After mysteriously coming back some years later with The
Warm Inventions she managed to get two albums out in ten years, a long time
some might say – but it seems her creative juices drift in slow-motion just
like her absorbing music. Backed by the supporting band Dirt Blue Gene that
also included the once My Bloody Valentine drummer and now creative partner Colm O'Coisoig. If you were already a
fan of anything Hope Sandoval related before, then you knew what you were
getting yourself into.

Sandoval’s
voice hasn’t changed a fraction since 1990, and you wouldn’t want it to – she
nails every note, even while playing some intricate glockenspiel and xylophone
parts. In complete utter darkness no less, something that she apparently
requests most concerts – but that’s all right because behind the band was a
gigantic projection of collaged images. It seemed like the perfect marriage of
sound in vision, which was full of subtle nods to symbolism.

One moment there
was a scene of a pair ballroom dancing with what looked like an atomic blast in
the background. A perfect way to describe the sound. A crowd member shouted out
“turn on the light so we can see you”, and Sandoval replied in a southern
accent “ain’t nutin’ to see here” and went into the next song. She’s damn right too – It’s the music
that matters, and whether it put you to sleep or filled you with tears of joy, you can’t help but say Hope Sandoval is one hell of a singer and is definitely
the nineties dream queen many remember her for.

The band played songs that were
selected off the two solo albums, last years “Through The Devil Softly” and
2001’s “Bavarian Fruit Bread”. No Mazzy Star covers were included, but that
didn’t matter. What did matter though, is that it took her twenty years to make
it here. Let’s hope it's not a similar time frame before she returns to
our shores once again.