Fresh from tearing up the United States, Ballarat’s greatest new export Gold Fields are back to Australia to celebrate their debut full-length Black Sun.
The party-fueled indie-rockers must have missed their home, because their tour incorporated a huge range of dates that saw them travelling from Fremantle, and heading all the way to little old Hobart.
Even though the nippy winter encouraged music lovers to stay home by the fire on a Friday night, the all-star lineup that included up and comers Willow Beats and indie diva Phebe Starr was enough to bring punters out early.
There was no doubt that East Coast electro duo showcased a huge degree of character as their half hour set (minus the few minutes stolen by technical difficulties) blasted the growing crowd. As one half manipulated sounds and beats of a backing track, the other half delivered soulful vocals – both complementing each other perfectly.
Following the stellar performance of Willow Beats and a quick booze run from the crowd, the smooth, black outfitted diva Phebe Starr was up.
Judging from the crowd’s reactions throughout, there would be no surprise if Starr ends up on the rise following this tour. Her extremely admirable vocal range saw her roll from Emily Haines styled lows to Mariah Carey highs showed phenomenal talent, especially considering she was sampling and looping at the same time.
As her band partner controlled the bulk of the song through synthesizers and MIDI control pads, Starr performed fan favourites such as “Jurassica” and “Alone With You” as well as a number of tracks from her debut EP.
With Jive bar bursting at the seams with fans, Gold Fields made no hesitation to come out on stage and immediately start rocking out. Beginning with a quick intro that then turned into Black Sun’s “The Woods”, the five-piece showed great promise in securing an energy-filled night.
It was easy to notice that they had turned their set into more of a solidified performance rather than just individual songs. “The Woods” flowed pretty smoothly into “Meet My Friends” which then moved into “Treehouse”.
Their banter was minimal and had mostly been provided by their guitarist, who, judging by his perfect vocal tones and dynamic guitar style, should have been seen as the main part of the band.
Even though the band chatter had dime-a-dozen lines such as “this is the best show of the tour” and “you guys know how to party”, it worked well in getting the crowd going.
Following what felt like a fifteen minute cover of Underworld’s “Born Slippy”, the band finally stopped playing in order to thank all those for coming out. Following this, the bands biggest releases “Dark Again (Lights Out)” and “Moves” were played to a powerful dance mosh.
Even though the acts had a huge range of styles, all played well in equal parts of musicianship and energy-bursting performance. With a fantastic turnout and an active crowd, the night’s music lovers showed the harsh cold how little it had an impact on the night.
