Father John MistyBefore shredding into Drums, Oh Mercy frontman Alexander Gow told the slowly growing Metro crowd: “Hope you like it. If you don't, I don't care” – a pretty symbolic phrase for the night's gig. The four-piece from Melbourne sped through the warm-up set. Gow's Napoleon Dynamite-esque stage banter and oddly sexual movements kept people interested, with the crowd, almost at capacity, finally coming alive for My Man late in the set. The difference between good songwriting and great songwriting is made clear, with their improvised addition of Leonard Cohen's Memories receiving the most buzz to end.
Tonight, J Tillman is a strange sex-god, his alter-ego Father John Misty tossing up nearly all offerings from recent record Fear Fun, in no chronological order. Decked out as a self-confessed “gay plantation owner”, Tillman's tall lanky figure slid around the stage, down microphone stands and into the audience, pleading love, discussing death and the afterlife before always coming back to a punchline that perfectly hit the mark – the man is a comedian as much as musician.
His jacket was off for Nancy From Now On, wine bottle in hand as he howled: “Oh pour me another drink/ And punch me in the face”, the tune given a much richer sound with the addition of a five-piece band. Some of Fear Fun's most popular tunes were done away with early, making room for gorgeous renditions of relatively unknown album tracks. Well, You Can Do It Without Me is worthy of a mention, with Tillman allowing everyone to “marinate in that one” after its show-stopping breakdown. The figurehead was melodramatically literal during Now I'm Learning To Love The War, sarcastically performing his verses, before the sincerity of the chorus transformed the song into genuinely personal storytelling.
Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings provided the night's strangest moment, with Tillman choking himself, not just with the mic cord, but basically with the whole stand; the final moments securing Alexander Gow's previous statement of nonchalance. The band improvised two verses and a chorus of joke song Sex Walk – drunkenly written the last time Father John Misty travelled to the Sydney Opera House – following it up with equally as sexual new tune I Love You, Honeybear, where Tillman wished us “good luck fingering oblivion”. American classic On The Road Again by Canned Heat finished the night, rolling on after easily keeping fans entertained in a 75-minute folk rock and blues set that perfectly displayed the charming humour and absurdity of J Tillman.
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