Firstly, my apologies to the first three acts on the bill for ‘Boys vs Girls’, a night where the battle lines of live music were (roughly) divided along gender lines. Initially put off leaving my house by the incessant rain, I arrived at the Annandale Hotel late, missing Betty Airs, Creepers& Bonney Read. It’s not every day you get to see two all-girl, balls-to-the-wall rock bands, so, curse my laziness!
As it happened, I entered in the middle of Young Revelry’s set. The four Perth boys, who recently relocated to Sydney, blasted the rather sparse (given the large collection of local talent) crowd with industrial sounding, drone-y garage rock. It was ably played, and catchy in parts, but not inspiring due to what was - in my opinion - an over reliance on simply turning up the volume, instead of creating an entertaining live performance.
Next up, Laura Imbruglia, supported by a drummer and a bass player, took to the opposite stage. Working through a number of pleasant, upbeat folky-acoustic tunes, and a very touching girl-girl duet that had the room silently hanging on every note, Imbruglia was laid back and relaxed. Perhaps inspired by her surroundings though, she kicked things up a gear, throwing in some heavier riffs and channeling a little Karen O for her last few songs to close out a satisfying set.
After a short wait, and with the room looking a bit more full, Sydney lads Ghostwood took to the stage. At first, I thought they were heading down a disappointingly familiar route, forcing out a fuzzy wall of sound with blaring, albeit impressively strong, vocals. But a few songs in, their talent started to become visible, as the winding opening riff of "Cutlass" shone through a fog of ambient electric noise. From here on in, Ghostwood were in their element, launching into the insanely catchy yet restrained single, "Sunset Mirage", which got those at the front bouncing and twisting.
Barely did I have time to question the merit of placing such an obvious crowd pleaser around the middle of their set, when with a few bends of a distorted guitar string the boys whipped into a brief but roaring cover of Oasis’ "What’s the Story Morning Glory". Not letting the energy drop for a second, they shot through a number of songs before reaching their final track, "Rest My Soul"; a long, meandering song, which was taken over halfway through by an irresistible, driving and hypnotic drum beat that continued for what could easily have been five minutes, completely consuming the room. Eventually rising up from pounding a pair of small floor drums, vocalist Gabriel Winterfield broke out the chorus of Beck’s "Loser" before, one-by-one, the band slowly left the stage, letting the song fall apart by itself in a mess of feedback.
Ghostwood are undeniably talented and polished performers, but not in a pop sense. Their experience showed in their expressiveness live. They were able to play radio friendly songs while immersing you in a truly enthralling and raw live performance. It may be a bit of an unfair call, but on the strength of Ghostwood’s performance alone, I’m chalking this one up for the boys.
