Okkervil River

Why go to gigs? After all, it’s possible to listen to a much better produced, balanced replication of the same music from the safety and comfort of homes. This question becomes even more pointed when the band is Okkervil River, whose substantial discography is marked by clean, subtle and high-quality production values, and the venue is the Perth International Arts Festival’s Chevron Gardens, which suffers from both compromised sound and thin acoustics. Still, we go to gigs for a different experience, to get to know the musicians and the music in a different setting. For fans who know Okkervil River for their lyrics and mild folk-rock aesthetic, a live show is certainly a different experience. Their PIAF gig on Wednesday was a barrelling, energetic performance, but one that took a little while to find its groove.

Bunbury band, Lois and the Honky Tonks, may have been an ill-advised choice for support. They riled the crowd to an extent with a fast, mobile set, but the mid-to-high end sound that tends to characterise these festival shows, coupled with the outdoor acoustics, was not kind to singer Leigh Gardiner’s voice, particularly towards the end of the set. Still, his dancing – quick and contained, like he was beating up an invisible, medium-sized dog – and the energy of the whole band was infectious. We were ready for our headliners when they were done.

After a break, with house music populated by Fleetwood Mac and the like, the five members of Okkervil River barrelled onto stage and crashed through five or six songs before taking a breath. It was presumably an attempt to get the crowd on their side, but it was heavy handed and, if anything, a tad alienating. It was nice when they stopped to talk. From there, Okkervil eased into the quieter ‘Pink Slips’, and gradually found a pace that suited everyone, moving from the newer material that characterised the first part of their set and onto more recognisable crowd favourites from their earlier discography. Suddenly, it was a different set. They were still in a hurry, but had lost the formative urgency and noticeably relaxed into the show.

The treble of the sound desk still plagued the speakers, but by this stage we were used to it. Frontman, Will Sheff, carried on before us like a Pixar interpretation of tall, skinny and handsomely unkempt, and he and the band became more generous and graceful as the show progressed. The members of Okkervil River are tight performers and enjoyable to watch, if not spectacular, but the crash of the set and the compromised sound made it difficult to pick out both lyrics and specifics of the songs, which made some of their quieter numbers a bit of a relief.

They ended the set with ‘Lost Coastlines’ from The Stand Ins, before everyone played the encore game and Sheff returned alone for an achingly beautiful acoustic rendition of ‘A Stone’ from Black Sheep Boy. This time, the lyrics cut through and everyone went deathly quiet. Twenty minutes later and it was ‘Unless it’s Kicks’ from The Stage Names and then they were gone for good, finishing a highly varied, balanced set that spanned a good portion of the band’s repertoire. Not as comfortable as listening to their albums in a living room perhaps, but certainly an insight into one of the tighter, more original folk rock bands of our time.

Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5

Okkervil River
Will Sheff, Cully Symington, Patrick Pestorius, Justin Sherburn, Lauren Gurgiolo, Michael St.Clair