As far as I’m concerned, The Forum is the best venue in Melbourne. Anything bigger and you lose your connection with the crowd. So Alpine are doing all right to pack out The Forum on a Saturday night, and they showed class and taste with their selection of support acts.
Olympia was like if Florence Welch ditched the machine to front a one woman band. That one woman, Olivia Bartley, has the voice of a 1940s film noir femme fatale – ranging from quiet and desperate to huge and deadly. Pearls were also killer. Drummer Ellice Blakeney sang like she was picking a fight in a Safeway car park at 3am on a Saturday night; their single, Big Shot, sounds like The Runaways covering a Black Keys track – big swaggering, crunchy blues rock; and they even chucked in a noise rock cover of The Standells’ Dirty Water.
Now for the main event: Alpine were as polished and shiny as a rare gemstone, and just as priceless. The band’s two lead singers, Phoebe Baker and Lou James, were fierce, stalking and taunting each other like a couple of matadors without a bull. It was like watching Kate Bush take on Stevie Nicks in a title fight. Befitting a homecoming gig – and James’ birthday – their six-piece lineup was augmented by a couple of horn players and two sassy string smiths.
The good thing about having just two albums is they had time to play all the hits. Hands got a workout early, with Gasoline, Foolish and Damn Baby populating the back end of the set. All round, it was a damn good show, full of sparkly pop and energy.
BY JACK FRANKLIN
Loved: The all front-woman lineup.
Hated: Sunday’s hangover.
Drank: One too many cans of domestic beer.
