Deer Tick and Two Gallants featured as part of the diverse musical line-up at the Chevron Festival Gardens for the Perth Festival. The relaxed atmosphere and quirky architectural and stylistic touches set the scene for a good-natured show. Tiered seating with standard event chairs interspersed with garden furniture, couches and beanbags ensured everyone could see the stage, with a generous open area allowing room for dancing, heckling and getting close to the action.
Two Gallants opened the show, bringing San Francisco stylings to Perth’s balmy summer night. Their set comprised a mixture of old and new offerings which seemed to satisfy the small group of dedicated fans directly in front of the stage.
Their signature fusion of folk and rock continually confounded expectations, both from one song to the next as well as within individual numbers. Sweetly lyrical passages mixed deftly with outbursts of passionate drumming, harsh vocals roaring out to then have the drum kit put aside in favour of wind chimes as percussive backing – focussed on their music, Two Gallants were in their element.
The set saw many instrumental changes between songs, with three different guitars and a keyboard being used to good effect. However, this variety came at the cost of rapid transitions, robbing the presentation of energy as the pauses dragged between songs; and while folk-rock has its charms, there were times when the band’s raucous vocals clashed with more instrumentally melodic passages.
Deer Tick were greeted warmly, despite starting just before the scheduled end time, with many concert-goers coming in from the gardens to the main stage area to dance about and enjoy the atmosphere.
The pace instantly lifted with Deer Tick on stage, with close links between songs spurring on the dancers in the crowd. The group had great stage chemistry, with high performance energy, strong and varied use of vocal harmonies among the band members, and a lovely frock on lead singer John McCauley.
While Deer Tick’s catchy riffs, light-hearted lyrics and stage antics were big crowd pleasers, it was a very late start and difficult to recapture audience energy after the slower set of Two Gallants.
Overall a welcome visit to Perth by two quite different bands, sadly only for a single weeknight, but that’s the joy of Perth Festival, providing a venue for music lovers seeking something a little out of the usual.
Rating 2 ½ stars (Two Gallants) and 3 ½ stars (Deer Tick) out of 5
Deer Tick + Two Gallants
Chevron Festival Gardens
12 February
Perth International Arts Festival
www.perthfestival.com.au
8 February – 2 March
