Live Review: Anton Franc

Louis & The Honkytonk greeted the dozen-strong opening crowd with a heartfelt “Good evening, Bakery”  before getting straight down to their first song of the set in Darling. So grateful they were for the early arrivals by Motown that frontman Leigh Gardiner intonated, “Hope this song doesn't scare you off.” Danny Champagne showed that a guitar does not always need to be strummed to sound awesome. He played only a short set due to travel commitments, but finished strong with a blues song his father taught him, the immortal Willie Dixon tune Spoonful enthralling a growing group of punters.

Pumba hit the stage next. Despite it only being their fifth gig as a group, they worked the stage like a well-oiled machine. Nic (also from The Brow Horn Orchestra) was so animated I nearly expected him to crowdsurf in an inflatable boat (again). A collective sigh went up from the now 50-60-strong mob when they announced their last song. Nic soothed them with his dulcet tones, and after stumbling over his closing line intimated, “I fuckin' hate banter!”

Ruby Boots drew more in like moths to flame, and showed off her vocal acrobatics with Baby Pull Over, continuing to play despite breaking the E string on her guitar. After a song with just herself and her keyboardist Hugh, the guitar emerged from successful surgery and the set carried on with renewed vigour.

Of course the celebration of their second EP All This Talk wouldn't have been complete without the headline act. Anton Franc came out to the fanfare from the Twentieth Century Fox intro, before grooving into Moments and Jessy. The guys broke the previously held record of the largest quartet with seven bodies on stage, with Lyndon Blue, Jeremy Trezona and Debbie Olsson-White all joining the original troupe. The ambience was so intimate towards the end of the set that Josh Bowyer shared the story behind Water And Blue. It wasn't pretty; he summed it up as the song they wrote about a spate of hot summer nights in Perth, a housemate that bought a pool “just big enough for a baby” and “five fully grown, fat, hairy men” trying to all fit it in together. However, the guys didn't let that (ever so slightly disturbing) mental picture hang around long, with another three songs capping off the night sweetly.