Cold War Kids

Band: Cold War Kids supported by Bridezilla
Venue: The Palace
Date: 4th february 2009
Reviewed By: Espylyn

Tonight’s gig takes me on a adventure to the Palace Theatre in Melbourne to see one hot American band and another hauntingly hot band from Sydney. The later of the two is the first band of the night, Bridezilla, a young (some are still doing or have just done their HSC) five piece band that has been around since 2005. Fronted by Holly Sidewinder on gorgeous vocals and rhythm guitar, the band includes Pia May on guitar, Millie Hall on saxophone and keys, Daisy Tulley on violins (insane playing, like Warren Ellis), and the odd man out (or lucky) , Josh Bush. Bridezilla take to stage induced with violin and a single drum beat, enter haunting vocals that crawl into every crevice in the venue and add a grunty bass, some saxophone and you have a great start for a great act. Their outfits take on a more sombre feel than what I’ve seen in the past but that doesn’t mean they’re boring, not at all. Take the bassist, Pia, who intrigues me, tonight Pia wears a long dress whilst she cuts the chords, this is a sexy sight to see - include some bright red lipstick and swaying brown hair and there you have one chick that looks innocent and sultry at the same time! The crowd take a more responsive approach around half way into the set (also due to more arrivals). The tambourine finds a way to fit in to the music and when a large instrumental is before us, the crowd goes nuts. Easy to see why they are supporting tonight (a thought I wasn’t so sure about at first).Holiday’s voice is spectacular; she delivers the music with passion and conviction.
A short break and we’re greeted with dimmed lights and the crowd goes nuts, then lights and action, Cold War Kids rock the stage whilst a huge skeleton sets the scene as a back drop. A nearly sold out crowd in attendance for this American band who started in 2004 in historic Fullerton, California and whose music is inspired by Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley and Velvet Underground.
Seven white lights are the only source of illumination on stage to begin with and it’s rather effective. Nathan Willett (lead vocals, piano and guitar) plays the keys and we’re launched into Mexican Dogs from their latest creation Loyalty to Loyalty and this takes the audience to a crazy level. Jonnie Russell (guitar, vocals, percussion) and Matt Maust (bass) are rather uncoordinated as they leap about the stage falling into each other, but the effect of 4 buzzing lads evoking the presence of the crowd sucks all tiredness out of the room to allow themselves to be lost in the music of Cold War Kids. Every Valley is not a Lake is the next song and Nathan jumps to the opposite side of stage to a different set of keyboards. Dynamic feel on stage with Matt Aveiro (drums) gaining momentum and complexity throughout the set. Nathan takes to centre stage for We used to Vacation and Dreams Old Man Dreams are from the highly talked about debut album, Robbers and Cowards. The band then launch into the highly popular song Something is not Right with Me which takes on a joyous cheer and the punters show the band what their made of by leaping around and moshing till they could mosh no more. Nathan’s vocals are crisp, raw and are combined with some sexy guitar riffs and a dark stage, then the song ends in the dark. But hey presto, flashlights are brought out and are waved around into the crowd as the mysterious song Robbers takes us on a journey. CWC show they don’t need to be hounded by huge light shows; the lights of this performance are perfect, even if one song is sung with flashlights! Maybe they are carbon footprint wary! Coffee Spoons (MySpace transmissions) follows then I’ve seen Enough. Next song needs no introduction but I’ll say it anyway, Hang Me Out To Dry, a huge crowd tickler and around the stage the band members zoom. One really needs to love a song sung around washing! Next takes us to a mellow land for a delicate song called Relief which is powered through and fills the room with exquisite noise and ends in stormy surrounds. The punters deliver rapturous applause and they launch into Cryptomnesia (Wikipedia -meaning memory bias whereby a person falsely recalls generating a thought, an idea, a song, or a joke) then it’s that sad time of the night where the encore takes a hold. Whilst we wait for the band to return, a female punter decides to jump on bar and give the crowd a bit of boogie action! Quickly the band bounce back and propel into Quiet Please to which the audience paid no attention to in the title, and then Nathan plunges with growling vocals into, Hospital Beds. Last song of the night is Saint John which has assorted vocals to begin with and is a great twisted yet structured sing-a-long tune. Fabulous choice to end on
This is CWC third time in Melbourne and I’m sure this won’t be the last.


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