There’s always that special and unique air of excitement at a local EP launch – and a debut at that – that you never quite get anywhere else. Everyone’s there to be as supportive as possible, and it was demonstrated from the get-go with Luke Pallier and his amazing hair taking to the stage for his first-ever gig. If the guy had any preshow jitters, he sure as hell didn’t show it – he absolutely reeked of charisma in the best possible way and wooed the crowd with his guitar/vocal mix. He played through original tracks right up until the end, before entertaining the venue with a Mac Demarco cover that left the crowd on a high.
Next up was Thee Gold Blooms, and although it’s been a long time between performances for this reviewer, they seem to have stepped up their game to a whole new level. They wrapped the collective audience around their finger with their catchy surf-pop tunes, belting out over 15 tracks. Alana was certainly a standout – the anthemic chorus had the whole room buzzing. They worked the crowd up and set the scene perfectly for the stars of the show.
It was a pretty casual set-up for Braves, but you could tell all four members were keen to get going, and would have definitely been feeling encouraged by the turnout, which had almost packed out the venue, and the sheer number of people wearing Braves T-shirts, which were being sold on the night. The front of the stage was as tightly packed as it could get, and with a quick “Hello”, the group launched into a catchy lo-fi track from the new record called I Don’t Surf. Amazingly, people had already picked up on the words and were singing along, but it wasn’t until the opening riff to the popular j-waves track Teenage Crazy came in that the crowd truly hit their paces, jumping around and doing their best to encourage the band. Braves’ confidence only seemed to grow from that point, and they worked their way through older tracks (Saw You) and new tracks (True Feelings) before rounding out with the title track from the EP, Seapunk. It was truly a fantastic night for the audience and a promising one for the band, for whom the journey is just beginning.
