What better night to settle into some suicidal-thought inducing music than a cut-glass-with-nipples-cold Wednesday evening in St Kilda? Perfect. Never have the op-shop smelling armchairs of the Palais felt better. I’m not sure if you’ve been to a gig here on a warmer day, but it’s not pleasant. However as we loiter on the cusp of winter, sitting down to watch Dallas play guitar as he took many a punter far, far away was just the best.
The boys took to the stage and without much fanfare and kicked into We Found Each Other In The Dark. That shit sounded monumental. It was huge! Dallas’ voice was crisp and sitting on top of the flawless band perfectly. Goldstien was killing it on the slide guitar, which he favoured over the organ he also had by his side. The dueling lead and slide guitar got better and better as the set went on, even if Goldstein looked like the guy that your parents told you not to take candy off on the way home from primary school. (Even though he probably had ghost drops. Cram it mum.) Grand Optimist was, as predicted, loud and quiet in all the right places and was my highlight for the night. The band took their cue and made themselves absent for a bit, leaving Dallas to do his solo thing. The banter that ensued was all class. Die-hard Alexisonfire fans were out in droves and their chat was, as predicated, appalling. “Bring back Alexis!” one girl yelled. “Marry me!” said another. Lucky Dallas is such a king and deflected these comments like a boss. When the worst thing possible happened, and two feral Alexis fans were on the verge of a cross-theatre spat, Dallas completely diffused the situation with his truly funny, dry sense of humour. Eventually the band rejoined the main man on stage and got shit sounding mammoth again. Dyl the drummer was great to watch and the back up vocals from the fella on bass complimented Dallas perfectly. I would literally sacrifice a testy if I could spend every Wednesday this winter the same way.
BY JACK PARSONS
Photo credit: Perri Cassie
LOVED: The banter from Dallas.
HATED: The banter from everyone else within 100 metres of Dallas.
DRANK: A passing Alexisonfire fan took pity on me and gave me one of those Monster energy drinks. Then told me I was an indie fag.
