LIVE REVIEW: LIME CORDIALE @ JOHN CAIN ARENA
PHOTO CREDIT: HANNAH JENNINGS
Lime Cordiale graced the John Cain on a Tuesday night for their ‘Enough of The Sweet Talk” tour. Now, I have seen Lime Cordiale before Party In the Paddock in February and they were my favourite set out of the whole festival- so I was so excited to see them in their own form.
Ball Park Music was the perfect choice for the opener as they set the feel good vibes for the rest of their show, particularly through the crowd hype in their song “She Only Loves it When I’m there”. When I could feel the electric beat through my veins I knew I was in for a bloody good time.
An ambient concoction of their transitionary “cue” sounds played as the brothers made their grand entrance in their colour co-ordinated suits. Oli opted to be the “hypeman” of the show as Louis sidepiece, getting the audience to chant in unison as they started the backing track for “pedestal”. The crowd went wild as the trombone made it to centre stage for a solo- and I have never felt more represented as a trombone player.
I love how Lime Cordiale are highly instrumental in their music – and particularly in their live show – there was a plethora of guitar and drum riff offs. But then Oli whips out a clarinet, Louis whips out a trumpet – and they start playing the most beautiful duet you have ever heard. My favourite moment, though, was when Louis started playing the kazoo in the middle of their cover of “I Touch Myself”. You never know what to expect in a Lime Cordiale gig.
Lime are highly interactive and theatrical which makes watching them that much more fun- in the transition between “Touch Myself” and their song “Ou l’hypocrite” they pretended to have a staged fight, with Louis winning of course, in which Oli responded by making everyone putting their middle fingers up and pretend to have beef with the either side of the arena. I love how playful and chaotic they are – it makes the show feel very authentic and intimate which you don’t really get in an arena of such scale.
The use of production elements made the show feel really cohesive– most notable in the transitions between songs where the lighting, visuals, and sound design were experimented with, giving a futuristic and electronic vibe.
They dabbled in their classic feel-good tunes of “dirt cheap” “waking up easy” and “temper temper” which were definitely crowd favourites, but also played their more solemn tracks like “strangers” “when I’m losing It” with the same gusto and energy. To head off with a bang they finished with “Robbery”, and I nearly lost my voice screaming “WAIT THAT’S HER STOP THAT GIRL”.
As Sam from Ball Park Music said, there is no better way to spend your Tuesday night than to watch Lime at The Cain. I love Lime Cordiale, they always know how to put on a fantastic show.