alt-J ProfileDid you head along to Alt-J last night? Or did you stay at home listening to An Awesome Wave and assorted singles from This is All Yours?
Either way, you probably heard the same thing. It almost would’ve been better to do the latter if you were one of the people who purchased counterfeit tickets online. Or if you spent 20 minutes cuing first to pick up your tickets, then to check your bag, then to get into the venue.
Alt-J stood in a row. They remained in that row, feet firmly planted in the same place for the whole show, which lasted exactly an hour and ten minutes.
It was a sold out show, just like their first Australian tour back in 2012 at OAF. Enmore is a graduation to a much bigger venue - it meant more sweating bodies crammed into the space, looking to get their dance on to alt-rock from four normcore dudes dressed in comfortable sweaters and sensible slacks. That normcore pseudo-vibe didn’t translate to an enthralling live show (pseudo-vibe because ‘vibe’ is a generous descriptor). The three remaining members of Alt-J (Gus Unger-Hamilton, Joe Newman and Thom Green), plus touring bassist Cameron Knight, stood in a row. They remained in that row, feet firmly planted in the same place for the whole show, which lasted exactly an hour and ten minutes. They were on at 9, off by 10.10, ready to get a good night’s sleep.
It wasn’t a bad set; all their bases were covered (open with Hunger Of The Pine, crowd singalong with Matilda, encore Breezeblocks); their songs are undeniably intricate and clever, at times subdued like the slow grind of Tesselate, and at others building pressure to breaking point like in new single Every Other Freckle; but in the end the set was kind of bland, like a plain sponge cake. There were no surprises here, no showmanship (bar incredible lighting, which changed with the thump of the drum or a cry of ‘Blended by the lights!’), only four dudes playing their instruments, and taking the whole thing a little bit too seriously.
