Live Review: Something For Kate, Andrew Ryan

Sunday is always a hard day to go out. No less with a major music festival going on at the same time and temperatures ensuring that the night would be a sweltering one. Yet many and sundry made their way down to the ol' Fly on Sunday night to give their due to one of the nation's finest touring rock acts, back after five long years and with a new album in tow.

All-round local music hero Andrew Ryan kicked the night off gradually with an unorthodox and graceful set, alone with his guitar. Ryan injects some pretty tongue-in-cheek humour into his writing, something that echoed the headliners. Whilst he didn't get the crowd enraptured, his music was the perfect relaxing accompaniment to a balmy Sunday night.

Then with little more than a wave to the cheering crowd, Something For Kate took the stage and launched right into a few new tracks. Taking an initial break to retune, frontman Paul Dempsey thanked everyone for coming down and letting us know that, “Sunday is just a figment of your imagination, so be cool”. Wise words.

Say Something, an older track from 2001's Echolalia, was met with applause before Star-Crossed Citizens, the opening track from this year's Leave Your Soul To Science, was unleashed. And, yes, to those that have heard the song: that riff is jarring. Thankfully, it translates much better to a live setting. Dempsey looked like he was about to put a shoulder out, strumming at a machine-gun pace. Another break, another tune-up and he introduced The Fireball At The End Of Everything, a “love story set in a car in a traffic jam as the sun is about to engulf the Earth”. With the band starting out gradually (drummer Clint Hyndman starting with a sample pad rhythm) before building to crescendo, this proved a true highlight. Deja Vu and Down The Garden Path were also great picks before Dempsey pulled out the acoustic and launched into a solo rendition of Deep Sea Divers, a track that had been much anticipated by the crowd. An intense cover followed, before the band returned to the stage. Renditions of Monsters and Cigarettes And Suitcases had the crowd swooning and the encore capped it all off lavishly with Electricity and the low-key and fittingly titled Leave Your Soul To Science closing track, Begin, finished a wonderful night (with Journey questionably lined up on the PA straight after the set only mildly ruining the mood).