Live Review: Birds Of Tokyo, Ecca Vandal

Through years of success, former Powderfinger bass player John Collins has obviously taken note of what makes a great music venue exactly that and he has set up one hell of a space. The noise, the layout and the walls covered in posters make for an inviting vibe and an overall gem of a spot. But we can’t spend the night looking at the walls, so it’s onto the focal point, the music.

The word ‘eclectic’ is thrown around a lot these days and all too often is just a euphemism describing a triple j darling in the midst of an identity crisis. Melbourne’s Ecca Vandal however, truly encapsulates what eclectic really is. The crowd is already sizeable and steadily growing as the band breaks out into an electric frenzy that has everyone in the audience captivated, the pure energy exuded from this crew is simply exhilarating and it pairs perfectly with their unique sound. The set is packed with seamless stylistic transitions, flowing from gritty punk riffs, to hip hop verses and just about everything in-between, all the while being fronted by Vandal herself, who could be mistaken for Gwen Stefani at times and Azealia Banks at others. As the band starts the punk and hip-hop cocktail of single Battle Royal the whole vibe of the Triffid goes up a gear, it is simply impossible not to get amped up by this tune, especially when it’s executed to perfection musically and done in a live context with big sound and big lights.

Shoulders bump and beers get spilled (a moment of silence, please) as the crowd waits for what was once a side project, but is now is enjoying its own international success. Birds Of Tokyo open with Weight Of The World, featuring Ian Kenny’s unmistakable clean vocal tone making a b-line directly to your ear drums. Once the initial enthusiasm of the opener has faded off however, more and more digestible soft-rock pieces get trotted out and the set begins to drop in intensity. Make no mistake, the older numbers such as Wayside and Broken Bones deservedly get a rise from the entire crowd, they have everybody singing along and trying to imitate Kenny’s falsetto at high volume (‘trying’ being the operative word here). Unfortunately, finding some excitement out of some of these newer songs like Anchor is like trying to find a humble vegan, an exercise in futility. There’s a lot of people having conversations during the songs, which speaks volumes.