I had the privilege this evening to watch the 4th public appearance of Pajama Club, featuring Neil Finn and his wife Sharon Finn, Sean Donnelly and the constantly smiling Aussie drummer Alana Skyring. Corner Hotel, Melbourne, June 15 2011 (full lunar eclipse).
But first, the support act, Glass Towers, are excellent. Just teens, from Byron Bay, I got the impression they have a big of a future as Silverchair. To me they came across as a band on the 3rd or 4th album, in terms of polished performance, own personality and song construction. What I really loved was the closing song and the obvious (!) Trail of Dead influence.
I’m usually useless when it comes to hearing songs played live that I haven’t heard before. But of course most of the songs, being by Neil Finn, had an instant catchiness, so I feel I already know the yet-to-be-released first album. The quality is consistent with Neil’s last few albums, with Crowded House and Tim Finn. Neil was a little bit funny, a little bit self-absorbed. He reminded me a bit of the the introspective self-righteousness of Grant Lee Buffalo and Lloyd Cole live, but not nearly as bad. The rest of the band were cool. Cool.
I loved it when one of their original songs (?) merged into Are Friends Electric by Gary Numan. It was a brilliant cover, and with some positive criticism, has the potential to become a new Tom’s Diner.
Not that he is running out of steam, but I have noticed recently that the introduction of female backing vocals can really revive a singer-songwriter’s career. Recently I have noticed this with Ed Harcourt and Robert Plant, and years ago for me this improved the work of…. Gary Numan.
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