LIVE REVIEW: RUNNING TOUCH @ SIDNEY MYER MUSIC BOWL 5/02/2021
It had been a short 24 hours since my last gig at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, but I nearly skipped the walk from my house up St Kilda Road on Friday night. 2021 gigs were slowly coming back and I wasn’t going to waste any opportunity to see live music. Despite months of relative freedom, the storm rolling across the Melbourne sky, threatening to burst open at a moment’s notice was a parallel to the threat of a new covid outbreak to bring everything we had achieved back to a halt.
The team who manage the Arts Centre Venues, including Sidney Myer have spent the last few months converting the bowl into a covid-safe event space for the ‘Live at the Bowl” series. Where the sprawling lawns once hosted picnics so packed you questioned where your rug started and the next began, now lay a sea of scaffolding. I was positioned on the lawn decks. The seating arrangements accommodated most groups, lawn decks (up to 6), stalls (best for 2-4) and classic balcony seats for the singles or couples who want to be up close to the action. The mosh was nowhere to be seen, but no one cared. They were happy to be out on a Friday night at a live music event!
Adult Art Club hosted an early DJ set from 6.15pm to warm up those who braved the storm early. BOM kept telling us there was going to be a downpour, but by 7pm we had only heard a single clap of thunder and a quick burst of rain in the early afternoon. We soon welcomed Melbourne Electronic duo, Kult Kyss, who brought some excellent visuals to pair with their set. Sadly, it was hard to see the visuals full effect with the sun starting to set. The drummer wore a mask that could be described as some sort of galactic space harness which added to light show. It reminded me of G Flip’s LED drum sticks from her ‘About Us’ tour. Seeing a live drummer was a big win after a DJ set and their performance was tight. They dropped a couple of covers amongst their original work and the lead singer continued to warm into the space. This is absolutely a band I would want to see late at night in a packed dirty dive bar like Boney or Yah Yahs. Not sure if this was the right venue for their work, but a great show.
When it came to Northeast Party House, they had more fun than the crowd during their DJ set. The boys had a boogie over beers while blasting bangers, kicking off with a classic daft punk tune. They peppered in some of their own songs but a DJ set simply doesn’t have the same energy or feel as a full band live performance. Despite this, the crowd continued to swell and girls got their slut drop on – one major benefit of the lawns decks was the fact every group had their own podium to grind on. Safe to say the influencers LOVED it. This was a fun backdrop to have a dance and enjoy the last glimpses of the sun over the Melbourne city skyline. I found myself easily distracted during this set, I wish they could have played their full show but it’s something to watch out for later in the year I have no doubt.
It was a relief to see the backline filled and mics setup for the headliner, Matt Kopp AKA Running Touch. He had been a festival favourite throughout 2019 and was well known for his stage presence and overall consistent performance. A year of rest didn’t dampen his talents. The graphics for the show was well curated, amplifying the energy he was presenting on stage. The crowd had packed in by the time he dropped into “Make Your Move”. I felt the vocals could have been louder, but after taking a walk into the centre of the amphitheatre, realised this was a limitation of the venue layout, rather than the artist or sound team. Throughout the set Matt jumped from microphone, to guitar to bass. His musical prowess was out in force and you could hear his excitement throughout the set. He commented on how excited he was to be back playing shows and the feeling spread up the grass as everyone clapped in unison to hits, finishing the set with one of my all-time favourites and total summer tune “When I’m Around You”
After a solid finish, the crowd was jumping hard against the 4x2 for an encore. In a move I have never seen from an artist before, ever, he performed a second rendition of “My Hands”. I get it, it’s a great song, but save it for the encore. I don’t understand why he didn’t save this for the end, it makes me wonder if he hadn’t anticipated an encore, or if the set had finished earlier than expected allowing time for one more song. I am not at all mad with this result, but still confused. For any other bands reading this, I would much rather you saved the favourite to play for last or popped in something we wouldn’t expect.
Sidney Myer have a boatload more shows coming up in the next few months. The ‘Live at the Bowl’ project is aimed to kick start the arts industry in Melbourne.
For more info check out their website: https://liveatthebowl.com.au/whats-on