Live Review: The Bats

After suffering the humid summer air slogging through the city getting to Hyde Park, Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent felt like an oasis. Air conditioning sighed through the drapes, cooling the long line of punters snaking around the lip of the raised platform circling the dancefloor. The mystique of the tent was momentarily suspended as we stared at the stocked fridges behind the bar, sweating in the low light. Despite the heat, the atmosphere was civilised.

The Bats took the stage promptly at five and moved through a polite set that turned over some old stones, in place now for 30-plus years. Their new album The Deep Set made up the bulk and, as nice as that release is, it's songs like Block Of Wood and Tragedy (both of which they played) that remind us just how great this band is, and what they're capable of.

The set was deep (pun intended), pulling material from most of their long career. Made Up In Blue was conspicuously absent, but the inclusion of Boogey Man from the truly excellent Fear Of God LP and the effortless dreamy melancholy of Up To The Sky were fine substitutes.

An argument could be made about how there's not much to differentiate one album by The Bats from the next (even with decades of growth under their belt), but the songwriting in Daddy's Highway is far more nuanced and inspired than material that they recorded in the last decade. Seeing these songs live, together, in a relaxed setting, we're able to appreciate that. Some of the natural torsion they've built up as players has been lost over the years and things sounded a bit looser than usual. Still, their breezy alt-pop oeuvre had charm to spare and seeing them during one of Sydney's hottest summers in years felt like life throwing us a bone. It was just bloody pleasant nursing a cold beer in a dark, air conditioned tent while listening to Christchurch's finest.