Yeasayer @ The Prince of Wales, Thursday, July 29 2010

18 August 2010 by Jess White

Yeasayer, rather than let fans down due to the demand on their Splendour in the Grass sideshows have the enviable task of two shows within the space of 3 hours at the Prince Bandroom. Now you don’t see that very often!

The earlier show being the one this reviewer attended and also the show with the Parking Lot Experiments in support. The Parking Lot Experiments have spawned from the same scene as Rat Vs Possum and Love Connection which have been making waves around Melbourne over the past year. These young lads with a penchant for long hair, retro electronic equipment and improvised dance routines might turn out to be the band of these three to make the longer lasting impact. Their use of vocal melodies and ability to write songs that make you dance, are beyond the years of their fresh faces.

Opening with the title track from their 2008’s debut album Wait for the Summer, this slow building track was the perfect introduction to the set as it allowed Yeasayer to settle on the stage and the vocal talents of Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder came to the fore immediately. Following up with Rome (from 2010’s Odd Blood) and Tightrope from 2009’s Dark Was the Night Compilation quickly had the crowd in raptures, the dance floor heaving and the band showcasing fine form honed on the European summer festival circuit.

Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton and Anand Wilder are the core members of the band; in the live setting they are joined by a tight percussion section that allowed the band to take the crowd on a psychedelic voyage without straying too far from the recorded versions of both albums; being able to replicate the intricacies and complexities of each album. It was easy to see that Ambling Alp, O.N.E. and Madder Red from Odd Blood; have been the cross over singles for the band, as these three songs easily found the largest applause from the crowd. However my highlights of the gig were definitely their earlier work; the pounding tribal drums of Sunrise, the post apocalyptic 2080 and the Middle Eastern rhythms of Germs.

On their first trip down under in 2008, Yeasayer blew my mind in what rates as one of the best gigs I saw in the latter half of the noughties. This second journey didn’t reach those heights, but an amazing show was still enjoyed and I am sure they won themselves many more fans this time around.

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