Sydney three-piece Seekae made their long overdue return to Melbourne last Friday night in the unusual location of the National Gallery Of Victoria’s great hall.
The concert was one of a series of gigs running in conjunction with the gallery’s current Monet’s Garden exhibition. Each Friday night since the beginning of July has seen the makeshift stage in the great hall accommodate acts such as Vance Joy, Courtney Barnett, and Brighter Later to name just a few.
Tickets to the event allowed punters access to the Monet’s Garden exhibition – boasting the largest collection of the master impressionist’s works ever to visit our shores – as well as a two hour DJ set from members of World’s End Press and of course the highly anticipated live set from Seekae. This cross-pollination of culture proved to be attractive to Melbournians, ensuring that the event was sold out and the NGV was bustling with a distinctly younger and more boisterous crowd than it would usually accommodate.
This crowd slowly filtered from the exhibition rooms into the great hall as the boys from World’s End Press delivered a masterful DJ set occupied by the sort of high quality, upbeat tunes one would expect from such accomplished musicians. At the entirely respectable time of 8.30 the DJs vacated the stage and were replaced by Alex Cameron, George Nicholas and John Hassell, collectively known as Seekae.
The group opened with ‘Another’ – a new song that surfaced on the band’s website just a day before the gig. The track suggests a slightly more hip-hop influenced sound and, in a first for Seekae, a massive emphasis has been placed on vocals. As more new songs were presented through the night, it became clear that these hip-hop and vocal elements are to be expected to feature heavily on the band’s forthcoming third album. Judging from the quality of the new compositions presented on the night, said album will be one to await with high expectations.
The performance also featured highlights of the group’s previous records, including stellar performances of crowd favourites ‘Blood Blank’ and ‘Void,’ however certain elements of the gig were imperfect.
The room was unsuited to this style of performance, and its high ceiling, wide floor space and glass doors exacerbated the uncomfortably high level of crowd noise. Some of the subtleties and intricacies of Seekae’s post-dubstep electro sound were therefore lost in the vast space. Furthermore, both the stage and the crowd were lit to excess; a problem that was unable to be rectified, despite the requests of the performers.
Being somewhat of a makeshift performance space, the shortcomings in lighting and sound are understandable and forgivable and setting as a whole made for an pleasurable gig-going experience.
Likewise, the quality of Seekae’s music and the class with which it was delivered on the night were transcendent of these minor drawbacks, ensuring all those in attendance will be eagerly anticipating their next chance to catch the group again.
