The indie folk rock stylings of UK pair, Slow Club
opened another January evening at the enchanting Beck's Festival Bar at
Hyde Park Barracks. Running through a selection of their limited
catalogue, the duo appeared quite shaky at first with nervous chatter
interspersed between their opening songs. However, with the lovely
Rebecca Taylor's passionate percussion they grew more confident, more
upbeat and delivered a very tight close to their set, highlighted by
the joyful 'Let's Fall Back in Love' (you may know it from the Vodafone
ads).

The crowd settled once more as we waited for the main
act to begin and I took a moment to reflect on my surroundings. My
first thought was what a shame that this venue wasn't open all year
round, but of course I realised that part of its charm is its temporal
nature coupled with the associations of it with relaxing summer nights
that come only periodically. My nostalgic reverie was happily broken as
Camera Obscura (appropriately latin for 'dark room') made their way to
the stage. Having become familiar with them through their latest
release 'My Maudlin Career' I was interested to see how their
admittedly melancholy indie pop would stack up in a buzzing live
environment. As the Glaswegians began their set with the title track
from the aforementioned album I started to realise that Tracyanne
Campbell's signature heartbreak warble was going to struggle to soar
over the audience's raucous chatter. Whether this was due to the
acoustics of the venue, my position in the back section of the venue,
the nature of the crowd (more later) or a combination of factors, it
was a shame nevertheless. As the set progressed I was finding it more
and more difficult to stay captivated by what what I was seeing and
hearing and was shocked to find I began yearning for Slow Club to
return and give us a more upbeat end to the night. Thankfully, as the
situation was at its most dire, we were rescued by gorgeous little
ditty 'French Navy', the band's latest single. The crowd burst into a
spontaneous sing-a-long as the band rollicked through the song and the
chorus reverberated around the venue "I wanted to control it, but love
I couldn't hold it" sending everyone into raptures. After this the band
finished with a much more enjoyable and invigorating selection of their
songs, more suited to an audience like this, mainly from their last two
albums (including 'Let's Get Out Of This Country').

My final verdict though was one of disappointment at
the structure of the set and the inability of the band to read the
audience's mood. As I mentioned, the crowd at this (and most Sydney
Festival events), seems to be dominated by a diverse mixture of people
that are not necessarily familiar with the music on offer but have
decided to get amongst the events that this great initiative has to
offer. I personally think that's great, yet there needs to be a greater
emphasis on respect for the artist performing (not to preach, but keep
talking to a minimum volume) and perhaps a greater responsibility on
the artist to engage with the audience and deliver a performance that
will give them no reason to need to talk (see Patrick Watson and
Grizzly Bear's outstanding performances).