It was surprising to be greeted by quite an empty Prince bandroom for the second last night of Jonathan Boulet’s national tour supporting his latest album, We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart. Support came from local outfit East Brunswick All Girls Choir and Adelaide psych rockers Wolf and Cub.
Despite the slow start, as Wolf & Cub meandered onto the stage, bodies began filing onto the dance-floor. First and foremost it’s an absolute pleasure to see them back in the live setting after some time away from the stage. Their groove-laden, fuzzed out psychedelic rock was welcomed by the apparent bobbing of heads and stomping of feet by the ever growing crowd.
New tracks ‘Shut Me Out’ and ‘See The Light’ worked particularly well live on stage, with Joel Byrne’s vocal soaring above the dirty guitars and strong rhythmic foundation. It was also nice to hear one of their first hits ‘This Mess’ as well as a protracted psych out jam that felt like a return to their best.
It was the perfect slow-burn warm up to the frenetic pace and energy that was to come in the form of Jonathan Boulet and his band. The usual lineup of lead guitar, bass and drums were joined by an additional percussionist to beef up the already powerful rhythmic presence; all joining their wispy bearded leader for a set of raucous jungle inspired mayhem.
In the live setting, criticisms about a band’s sound or mix is inevitable and in the case of Jonathan Boulet it presents an even more difficult challenge. For songs that are so rhythmically layered, the difficulty lies in being able to clearly hear each instrument. Unfortunately on this occasion the tendency was to push the volumes beyond a level where it was hard to discern anything in the mix. Particularly on ‘You’re A Animal’, with its jungle drums and group vocals, with neither element heard clearly.
However, this didn’t seem to concern the front of the crowd, a sea of arms were flailing and bodies jumping uncontrollably.
One thing you can be guaranteed of at a Jonathan Boulet gig is that the energy will be turned up to eleven. Their performance gives absolutely everything and the crowd laps up every drop of energy they emit from the stage.
The strong rhythmic elements present in Boulet’s music ensure full crowd enjoyment and interaction. New tracks ‘FM AM CB TV’, ‘Trounce’, and ‘This Song Is Called Ragged’ were particularly well received by an audience already familiar with the lyrics and singing them straight back at the band.
Fan favourite, ‘A Community Service Announcement’ – the track that shot Boulet onto the scene in 2009 – was an obvious highlight. Its strength in the live setting is being able to witness the power of the rhythmic elements mixed in the melodic guitar lines.
With the ears left a’ringing the Sydney multi-instrumentalist and his troupe proved once again that they are an absolute force on the live stage.
– Gabe Andrews
