With Groovin’ The Moo in town, Adelaide’s Thebarton Theatre has been set on fire with sideshows. Alongside our own Tame Impala, the classic venue has had an explosive week – holding acts such as Flume, The Kooks, and Tegan & Sara.
It was now the psychedelic rockers’ turn to blow the fans out of the water – something they’ve been doing across the world in recent times with the release of their acclaimed sophomore LP Lonerism.
Bringing along their friends Midnight Juggernauts who are most well known for holding the Triple J spotlight half a decade ago, it was expected by punters to be a fantastic night.
As expected, the Melbourne electro-rockers made their performance feel as though they were co-headlining, rather than just holding a humble opening spot. With a 45-minute set drowned in synthesizers, the trio showed the crowd exactly how fantastic an addition they are to Australian music.
Midnight Juugernauts played a range of infectious tracks such as “Shadows”, “This New Technology”, and fan favourite “Into The Galaxy” to a constantly engaged crowd.
Frontman Andrew Szekeres mainly used his banter time to complain about his airline misplacing his luggage, showing his sense of humour with lines such as “I just realized my house keys were in that bag… That’s really, really annoying” and showing off his outfit that Tame Impala supplied for the night.
Despite the night not being a complete sell out, Thebby had filled out to a high degree. The medium sized venue held a combination of both those who were finding residency at the venue throughout the week, and those taking the lighter option, only appearing at this show.
Armed with fantastic green lighting and a crowd emitting energy so thick you could cut it with a knife, the humble five-piece strolled onto the stage to the roars of thousands of fans. Tame Impala are known not to care much about saving their best until the end of their set, often starting with tracks such as “Solitude Is Bliss”.
The rockers opted for “It Is Not Meant To Be” – taken from their stellar debut. Despite being a lesser-known number, the fantastic intro riff struck a match with the crowd, as they seemed to immediately ignite with excitement.
Both taken from the recently released Lonerism, “Apocalypse Dreams” and “Endors Toi” soon followed. The set was off to an awe-inspiring start – partly from the stellar song choices so far, but also due to the stunning visuals.
The boys had decided to bring along a visual auxiliary as hypnotic as the show itself. The large, pixelated backing showcased a simple green dot that was distorted with every riff or every beat.
It’s unclear whether it was an incredibly well timed audio-visual partnership, or if frontman Kevin Parker’s guitar was doing all the work. Regardless, the immersive effects synced up to the songs perfectly, only adding to the mesmerizing performance.
What came next was a combination of songs fit for a heart attack. “Solitude Is Bliss” followed by “Music To Walk Home By”, “Elephant” and “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”. Such a concentrated choice of hits was met with an immense amount of crowd reaction – this is where the mosh really started.
Following the energy-filled call for an encore, the band had returned onto the stage to make an announcement. Holding a plate full of fruit, Parker introduced the crowd to Tame Impala’s drummer, explaining it was his birthday. The audience then followed with a chant of “Happy Birthday” while the band threw apples into the audience.
It was fantastic to see that Parker’s voice is just as good live as in the studio. The John Lennon-styled accent is just as much there in their performances, polished off with an appropriate amount of atmospheric reverb.
It’s obvious that the whole of Australia feels as though Tame Impala are one of our proudest exports, and despite them being touring heavyweights – having done three full Australian circuits in the last year – their-ever growing fan base loves every performance they hold.
