It’s the type of sound best consumed via dodgy headphones or to accompany long drives. Poignant to those dwelling and driving in the longest city in the world, tickets sold out fast, and eager attendees lined up early on the night.
It is not necessarily that he is the most technically skilled musician – Blessing (whispered words over an angsty riff) was kind of unenjoyable to witness live versus recorded – it is his skill as a composer, as a lyricist and his range. As someone who releases large volumes of great music, the live shows are less about being blown away by talent, and more about being in the intimate presence of the person so often wrapped around your ears when alone.
His laidback mystique as an artist was best exemplified by a crowd member behind me stating “yep that’s him, that’s Alex G” as the bass guitarist was tuning instruments prior to the show, yet I’ve no doubt this same punter can chronologically list every release from Bandcamp through to Spotify.
As expected, the set list comprised mostly of God Save The Animals, with a few oldies scattered within. The set was tight, good sound & lighting, against a backdrop of illustrated birds mimicking the album cover, with minimal breaks and a fun rolling from tune to tune. The seated drummer mouthed words to each song, between grins, and the three standing seemed as if in convoy to a central point of the stage, to each other, cueing and moving as one.
After the show wrapped up at 10pm, I felt pretty satiated, rare when seeing an artist so dearly awaited. It therefore felt like a bonus when we were told explicitly that they would be back for an encore. I was keen to await this and enjoy an audible post-show gush with fellow crowd members, without the familiar chant of “one more song” but the message seemed to slip past a few crowd members, as chant they did. The next part of the show was 33 epic minutes of irl shuffle, holding up phone screens with song titles as the band played us what we wished to hear.
The breadth of Alex G’s discography did shine here, each screen alight with a different request from the past decade. Love songs are to-and-from anyone, tales of characters vague and motives varied – his poetry takes you away and leaves you very sad or happy, or both.
This was for sure my favourite part of the performance, and the band really did seem like they were vibing. It was like being in a friend’s garage or studio. He was casual, lighthearted, and funny. A small chuckle when the lyrics of Bobby were mixed up; “his hands are smoke his breath is cold”, an offer to move to Perth and play every weekend rather than making us wait another five years, and some confusion around the location and name of the Swan River.
Alex hammered in the point that we had changed since his last show here, mentioning it twice in that sexy American drawl, but that he had stayed the same. While the meaning of this was unclear, his message was crystal – Alex G trick(ed) the rules to win the race, by taking a rocket to the house of sugar by the beach, music, and god (will) save the animals. Best summed up by one happy crowd member, “we laahv you Alex Geeeee!”
australianrules.com.au 