The Paper Kites call tonight’s show their last one of the tour, despite a gig the following evening in Ballarat, for sentimentality’s sake being in their home town.
Touring with them are Battleships from Sydney and The Art of Sleeping out of Brisbane. The show is kicked off with a bang, literally, as the members of Battleships walk on stage but pull a lead from its switched-on amp, giving the punters who turned out early (and there’s a fair few already gathered) a reason to jump in unison.
They play their radio-popular single, “Your Words”, early on in their set and it ends up translating to be a touch more fragile live. Vocalist and guitarist Jordan Sturdee holds good control over his mic, as he carries the tricky sort of voice that can teeter on whining when reaching those particularly passionate moments in song.
Covering Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” fairly faithfully, the performance holds no stark difference apart from it being sung by a male. Sturdee dabbles in some slightly awkward stage banter: “Some lady with very large lips stole that song from us” before noting, “we’re playing at the Prince Bandroom soon… The only thing I know about St Kilda is Nick Riewoldt crying,” bringing a couple of attempts at some humour.
Art Of Sleeping, on the other hand, ooze utter sincerity to everybody in the room and those involved on the tour. Goosebumps are immediate and aplenty as the cold, glitchy piano opens their set and the audience is flooded by the 5-piece’s dynamic string of tracks.
“Above The Water” carries heart-warming harmonies despite the potently frosty lyrics sung by vocal powerhouse Caleb Hodge, while closing with what could potentially be called their breakthrough single, “Empty Hands”, it’s a ‘so this is who performs that song!’ moment from the majority of the now-full band room.
A message displayed on the video screens politely asks the crowd to keep the talking to a minimum out of respect for the band’s sake and for the concert-goers enjoyment.
The upside down tepee lights hanging from the stage glow more brightly as the stage darkens and The Paper Kites receive a folk star welcome from the burgeoning crowd.
A slow, soft introduction to most recent single, “A Maker Of My Time” has the Melbourne 5-piece’s fans heaving massive sighs and for the next hour they mostly stick to the request of remaining quiet.
Splitting their set fairly between their new EP, Young North, and their most favoured past work, it’s a dawning realisation that this a band you can call upon when trying to define what folk music is.
“Leopold Street” and “When Our Legs Grew Tall” from the new collection of songs continue in the same heart in which frontman Sam Bentley delivers his gentle storytelling and delicate harmonies – both sure-fire reasons why they ask the crowd to be quiet during their gigs.
An unfamiliar musical introduction has the crowd wondering what’s next until cheers are spewed out for old favourite “Bloom”. The addition of the banjo is charming and the harmonies on stage are matched by the 800-strong crowd singing along.
“Featherstone” carries a similar reaction while a cover of The Cranberries’ “Dreams” gets the crowd going from stupefied swaying to moving with a bit more liveliness as guitarist and harmoniser Christina Lacy takes the lead.
Along with their new EP tracks and old favourites, they perform a couple of unrecorded songs as well: “Gates”, slowed down with some glacial-pace slide guitar, sees Bentley pondering whether he will go north or south come his time to shuffle off this mortal coil.
The band returns to the stage to wish bassist Sam Rasmussen a Happy Birthday in song and both Art of Sleeping and Battleships join the already swelling stage for one last cover: a fantastically joyous rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Celia”, complete with a fair stab at playing the washboard.
In spite of the tour finishing the following evening in Ballarat, The Paper Kites performed as if this was indeed their final show and satiated their fans thirst for a full length album for the time being.
