w/ Nantes, Cub Scouts
Ball Park Music have certainly been making some noise in Australian music of late. Their singles “Literally Baby” and “All I Want Is You” are still all over Triple J. So, it’s any wonder that their latest National tour, the “180° Tour”, has sold out shows in the major capital cities with second and third shows announced all over the country. Brisbane was graced with the pleasure of the third show on the tour, after Coolangatta and Byron, and for their home town performance the band had more than a couple of surprises up their sleeves.
Cub Scouts opened the night with their infections pop infused tunes. I was unlucky enough to only catch the tail end of their set, however, what I did hear was enough to tell me that I need to know more of this band.
After a brief intermission, Nantes graced the stage with their dirty synth infused sounds. This band is solid. Good live, and put on an entertaining show. My problem only with them is that they’re a little bit same-same. In the early part of their set, the songs used such a limited vocal range that the songs lost their uniqueness and punch. I would say that vocals aren’t the bands’ strong suite, especially when all the members of the band are singing together. The instrumentals, on the other hand, were really tight and captivating, especially with the synths adding colour to the live sound. However, in saying all of this, as the set progressed, they won me over, and started growing on me at a rapid rate. And by the time they hit their last song, “Fly”, I was a fan.
Ball Park Music. Where do I even start? From the moment the HiFi curtains opened there were helium remote controlled balloon marine animals, a surfer riff, played by five members of the band and fromtman Sam Cromack being, well, Sam Cromack. This gentleman certainly knows how to make an entrance. He brought his bottle of wine out onto stage while the others are playing, toasted the audience, and took a swig, before seamlessly transitioning into opener, “Literally Baby”. It’s been quite a while since I have seen these youngsters play, and it’s incredible just how far they have come. It’s leaps and bounds ahead of where they were previously (and they were mighty fine then, just for the record). They previewed two new tracks that may or may not be from their future album release. And oh my, they were something delightful. “Pot of Gold” was particularly intriguing, starting off with something a little mellower, then building into something insane.
Now, Miss Jennifer Boyce has been a very brave girl and has pledged to shave off all her hair for charity in support of the Leukemia Foundation’s Greatest Shave. Mid way through the bands’ incredible Live A Version cover of the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realise?” one of the backstage crew walked on stage with a pair of scissors, and chopped of her ponytail, leaving the bass player with quite a striking Mohawk. Facebook has since told me that the band raised over $1000 in the collection buckets placed around the venue. Just in this one night. Kudos. This will go towards what she has already raised to date.
My personal highlight of the night was the bands’ live rendition of “Happy Healthy Citizen of the Developed World Blues”. Simply stunning is all I will say. They finished the set with hit single “It’s Nice to Be Alive” before returning to the stage for an encore performance of The Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night”.
To say that this bands’ set was phenomenal would be understatement. They actually blew it out of the Ball Park. Get along to their second Brisbane show on May 11 if you can, you certainly won’t regret it.
