Melbourne newbies The Paper Kites opened up the show for Bombay Bicycle Club at Factory Theatre on the 2nd of January, to a crowd seemingly almost completely made up of people who had never heard their music.
They were relaxed within moments of the first song, after the lead singer mixed up his lyrics and joked with the crowd, and the guitarist started playing a banjo.
The standout song of the evening for the five-piece was “Gates”, in which the soaring harmonies in contrast with the use of a lap steel had the whole room listening.
Although they lost the audience at some points through their slower songs, the energy and effort they put into their set is sure to gain them some new devoted fans.
Excited chatter began to fill the room the moment they finished their set, as the anticipation for the headlining indie rockers built as even more people began to pour into the already packed venue.
Bombay Bicycle Club wandered on stage as if they were born to perform, and kicked off their set with a new song from their upcoming album, set for release this year. The new tune was backed with epic strobe lighting and a couple of extras on stage to help out with instruments and vocals.
The catchy, popular single “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep” had the crowd swaying and softly singing along as the band announced that this was the last tour they would be doing for their most recent album, A Different Kind Of Fix.
They launched into an electric new song titled “It’s Alright Now”, full of synth and distorted guitar, which seemed worlds apart from their more rock-based debut album, I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose.
Drummer Suren de Saram played his ace in the upbeat ballad “Ivy and Gold”, stealing the show with a flawless drum solo.
The London-based boys continued to play song after song with incredible energy and enthusiasm, despite an unresponsive crowd, until “Always Like This” finally shook people from their reveries and had the whole room dancing and chanting along.
It all seemed to be over too quickly, and they were eagerly cheered back on stage for an encore to perform crowd favourite “Shuffle”, followed by another song off the upcoming album called “Carry Me” before closing the show with the guitar-heavy “What If”.
After kicking off 2013 at Falls Festival, the lads from Bombay Bicycle club brought an amazing live show to Sydney and many in Australia will definitely be eagerly anticipating their future endeavours.
