Live Review: Chet Faker, Roland Tings, GL

Chet Faker laid down his well known gigging law two songs in: “You have two options, put your phones away and live this experience, or go out the back and let others who don’t have their phones enjoy it. I don’t like phones; it makes me feel like an animal in a zoo.”

Triple j Unearthed 2014 Falls Festival winners GL opened the night with breezy synths and crisp vocals proving they’ve got a bright future ahead. There was no delay as former triple j feature artist Roland Tings took to the stage. He began by taking us on a synth journey that teased the senses, before launching into a 30-minute Jon Hopkins-esque set. His set was enjoyable, but it didn’t really get the audience bouncing and it felt a little like an EDM gig. It won’t be long until both support acts are playing their own headline shows, keep an eye out for them.

Perhaps it was Chet Faker’s astronomical aurora that led to both GL and Roland Tings being positioned left of stage and without proper lighting, but it was hard to justify: the people were there to see Nick Murphy in all his brilliance and they needed no encouragement.

The capacity crowd were treated to quintessential Chet as Thinking In Textures was revisited. He performed a few covers including a bass-drenched, upbeat version of Van Morrison’s Moondance. Faker left the stage a few times, returning each time to rapturous applause and whistling. One overly enthusiastic fan got her kit off while on the shoulders of another person, to which Faker stopped singing and enjoyed the view before saying “God Bless you, Adelaide.”

The lighting was fantastic to begin with but failed early on and took two songs to fix. Half of the show was a solo performance from the laidback Faker, before he got to crowd pleasers Dead Body and Gold.

His #1 song of 2014, Talk Is Cheap, was the grand finale. It was a beautiful rendition with the main man taking it down a notch tinkling the ivories and allowing the audience to join in on the vocals. The infatuated crowd sang with a gusto that put a smile on Chet Faker’s face.