Last Friday night, the Melbourne Zoo Twilight series witness Something for Kate play a long stadium-style set for an appreciative audience.
With the last of the Friday picnic crowd spilling in from overflowing car parks, support act two-piece, The Orbweavers, lull an appreciative crowd with stories of inner Melbourne’s history and forgotten places.
This all-weather event feels like an institution. The near-capacity audience, prepared with beanies and jackets, turn all eyes to stage for Something for Kate’s opening song, R.E.M.’s ‘The One I Love’. Lead singer, Paul Dempsey, displays his broad vocal range as partner-in-life bassist, Stephanie Ashworth’s bare-foot playing locks in with drummer Clint Hyndman’s flamboyant gestures, resulting in a ‘super group’ style performance.
The open grass area surrounded by trees has two main food areas and cueing audiences tap toes as they queue for burgers, chips and refreshments. Seating is organised into rug or seated spaces, a patchwork descending to the stage.
As Something for Kate’s set undulates from drilling riffs to U2 style anthems, I find myself in a post modern field of 80s and 90s musical associations. From Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel to Mark Seymour and the Hunters and Collectors. Is the freewheeling Dempsey invoking the ghosts of bands past? The band take a set break as workman-like Dempsey plays an ambling acoustic song from his New York days.
Every inch of the stage was relayed MTV style to the video screen mounted side of stage. A heavily edited live multi-camera feed is best put to use serving late-comers seated towards the back. Along with the unimaginative lighting, the stadium rock show effects counter rather than enhance the offerings of the surrounding natural environment.
As the band returns for an encore, it is the audience’s time to move to their favourite tracks.People rise form their rugs over the last few songs to do the rock thing, the audience participating as stadium crowd. There is perhaps something lost as Dempsey reaches too often for the epic in his performance. It is in the end the more contained performance of The Orbweavers which move this unsuspecting evening crowd.
The novelty of performing in a zoo is not lost on either bands. In closing, Dempsey thanks the animals for having us and relates how lions can be annoyed by frequencies from the bass guitar, reassuring us they were locked away for the night. The animal kingdom is represented by a small and almost imperceptible flock of low flying ducks, making a low pass over the feeding crowd.
Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars
Something for Kate with The Orbweavers
Zoo Twilights, Melbourne Zoo
www.zoo.org.au
Mixed events 24 January – 8 March
