Plonked in what must have been the media section at Tame Impala’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl show on Friday night was interesting. Surrounding me were people furiously taking notes, trying to jot down setlists, transcribe quotes – but honestly, the 100-minute set from the now global pysch collective was so immersive and enthralling it was hard to write a word.
It was the first stop on the Perth group’s Currents world tour (set to run for at least five months thus far) off the back of a third record – and, fittingly, the biggest headline show they’ve ever played. Packed out to more than 12,000 people as far as the eye could see, the second the group entered the stage there was a surge towards the stage that security didn’t even try and curb – seats were redundant as the front section of the Bowl became a mesh of bodies.
“This is our first Australian show in more than two years,” said Kevin Parker, the mastermind behind Tame Impala – and its only songwriter and recording member.
“I have no idea why! I don’t usually make these promises in front of this many people, but I promise it won’t be that long next time,” he exclaimed, seeming genuinely a bit overwhelmed with the enormity of it all. The jovial on-stage banter was, to say the least, unexpected – a jolt back to friendly Aussie reality in between enchanting songs that made the audience forget where, when, what, who.
Opening after an introduction with Currents’ biggest single Let It Happen, which lasted about ten minutes, Parker set the tone early with an extended guitar solo – indulgent and expressive, there was no holding back on the emotions through the entire set.
Playing the majority of Currents as well as dipping into Impala’s past records, the visuals worked beautifully to accompany the huge sound – psychedelic, geometric spinning shapes that must have worked wonders for the purveyors of the weed haze that settled upon the whole arena.
Being so broad and ever changing, it’s tricky to classify the Tame Impala sound now. After the first two albums solidified the band’s reputation dreamy, shoegazey psychedelia, Currents has turned a whole new page – drawing on disco, synthy electronica and some commercially poppy sounds, the album is somehow both more accessible and more niche than its predecessors.
Though the more danceable and singalong-friendly tracks just about gave Fleetwood Mac across the road at Rod Laver Arena a run for their money – Elephant, encore Feels Like We Only Go Backwards and The Less I Know The Better just about lifting the roof off the Bowl, the set’s highlights were easily its more demure moments.
A number of tracks on Currents are breakup songs, provoked by Parker’s split from French musician Melody Prochet last year – and he’s still feeling it. Dropping the guitar and putting his hand on his heart, as Parker emoted his way through Yes I’m Changing, there was nothing left to see: completely open and raw, 12,000 people felt simultaneous angst, loss and love – and that’s what Tame Impala’s all about.
Check out the full gallery from the show here.
Intro
Let It Happen
Mind Mischief
Why Won’t They Talk to Me?
It Is Not Meant to Be
The Moment
Elephant
Yes I’m Changing
The Less I Know the Better
Eventually
Alter Ego
Oscilly
‘Cause I’m a Man
Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?
Apocalypse Dreams
Encore
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
Play Video
Nothing That Has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control
