Live Review: Augie March, Jae Laffer

The rather earnest looking Jae Laffer is sitting on the edge of a stage crowded with all Augie March’s gear. Laffer strums his guitar in rapt contemplation, playing songs off last year’s solo album When The Iron Glows Red, which was reportedly recorded with the assistance of Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart. Laffer is accompanied by another guitar player and together they provide an appropriately mellow accompaniment to the emotional introspection of his songs. The crowd makes itself comfortable by sitting on the floor; many are drifting away to Laffer’s dulcet tones. As the frontman of The Panics, it is hard for Laffer not to sound like The Panics without the rest of the band, in solo mode, but that isn’t entirely a bad thing.

It’s Halloween tonight and a few of the costumed trick or treaters doing the rounds on Sydney Road get to the band room at Howler just as it starts to pack out. In 2008, Augie March released Watch Me Disappear and in retrospect that is pretty much exactly what they did. But now they are back with their fifth album Havens Dumb and a run of five shows at Howler, four of which have sold out. Keen to sell out their fifth show, Glenn Richards asks the crowd to come back for Sunday night’s gig too. The show gets off to a false start as the band’s keyboard player is having a problem with his computer. Wisecracking bass player Edmondo Ammendola distracts the crowd, joking that the AppleCare warranty on the machine ran out today. AWOL makes for a modest start to the gig while Hobart Orbit gives the band another opportunity to showcase new material with which largely unresponsive fans are clearly unfamiliar. Feedback on Adam Donovan’s guitar becomes a squealing pain in the ear after a few songs but is put to rest by the time Augie March start treating us to familiar old tunes like the driving Lupus. At the core of their set, it’s The Cold Acre and One Crowded Hour that warm hearts and enliven fans. Throughout the evening Glenn Richards and band look relaxed and really seem to be enjoying themselves, perhaps humbled that after all these years their fans still cherish their music. The crowd reacts loudly to every song on a setlist that draws on material from all of Augie March’s albums. It’s great to these local musical stalwarts are back and delivering the goods.