Before I start: If you've never seen Anberlin live, then the obvious question to ask would be: does the lead singers’ voice equal that which he produces on the record? The emphatic answer is YES - in spades. Probably one of the best live voices as the lead man of a rock band I have ever seen.
Now: Every time Anberlin have played in Melbourne they have played at progressively larger venues, filling them easily. This includes being a pretty major drawcard on the 2009 Soundwave Festivals circuit around the country. So as you can probably tell with the frequent visits, Anberlin are an extremely popular band in these parts of the world. This time it was at Billboards, a place where they have the speakers permanently set to 13 - somebody should tell that place they are doing permanent damage to people's hearing.
According to the lead singer Stephen Christian, Anberlin have played Melbourne more times than their hometown in Florida, USA, but have you ever heard that song by Regurgitator: 'I like your old stuff, better than your new stuff?' Well, that seemed to be the general feeling within the crowd on this particular night as when the older songs were played, you could feel the crowd lift a notch.
They are touring (again) for their latest album, New Surrender, which isn't actually that 'New' any more. It was released at the end of September, 2008, so it was probably to be expected that the bulk of the songs in the set were to be from this album.
They pumped out (in no particular order) Godspeed, Adelaide, Whisper and a Clamour, Hello Alone, Dismantle. Repair, Paperthin Hymn, The Resistance, Breaking, Feel good Drag and Disappear in a full on-sing along set. Thrown in was a surprise cover by their 'favourite band' New Order (which wasn't the more famous Blue Monday) but True Faith. They closed the 1 song encore with the 9-minute epic *fin, which I guess was a suitable ending, to a tight but noticeably shorter than previous-shows set.
Sure, you're probably thinking, they've hit it on the head there as far as a broad spectrum of songs from their two most recent 'Surrender' and 'Cities', but I was left as always, wanting to see a bit more... the set was too predictable, too rehearsed and at times a bit flat.
They just never seemed to reach fever pitch, excitement and power I have seen them get to before, maybe it was the venue, maybe they we're jetlagged (they'd played NZ, Perth & Adelaide the few days before) or maybe I'm just making excuses because of the high standards I set for them.
I might sound a bit negative in this review, so please don't let it put you off seeing the band next time they hit OZ shores. Anberlin is phenomenal live, and every time I see them they blow me away. This time, they were a little flat and a little short, but still great. It definitely won't stop me buying a ticket next time.
Go see them. They’re bloody good.
No comments:
Post a Comment