Brisbane’s Millions are like if the Arctic Monkeys were a 1960s prom band. Simply put, it works. Embarking on a national tour for their most ambitious release to date, Max Relax, Millions have demonstrated an ability to transfer their complex recorded work to their live show.
Starting off the night at the Workers Club was the underwhelming Snowy Nasdaq. With poor quality synths and awkward jokes about being a premature ejaculator, Snowy Nasdaq failed to impress. His rambling conspiracy theory at the end accurately summed up how bizarre his set was.
Following him was Jesse Davidson, Adelaide’s response to James Blake. Although clearly influenced by Blake, Davidson manages to get some rocking energy into his songs. His smooth, soulful voice and a warm electric guitar make for a classy act. When drummer Ben Zubreckyj adds to this mix a trumpet solo in Flaws, magic happens. This was easily their best song for the night. Notable mentions include an impressive Hugh Grant impersonation from drummer Ben.
Millions entered the stage sporting all white attire from head to toe. Following in the footsteps of John Lennon in his weird Yoko days and umm, ABBA, takes some guts to successfully pull off. This is a stupidly cool look. A white turtleneck jumper has been added to my Christmas wish-list. Thankfully, they have the music to match this ballsy look. Consistently the band were able to transfer their recorded work to the stage with quality. Grooving bass lines, excellent vocals, catchy guitar riffs, and solid beats were a feature of every song.
Opening up their set with Champagne, a song with a great intro, was a smart move. This set a pretty great tone for the rest of the gig. Playing a blend of older songs and ones off their new album, Max Relax, Millions found a good balance between the two. Generally speaking, older songs like Those Girls and Nineteen were better received and got the crowd engaged more.
The crowning moment of the night was a surprising cover of The Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody. Lead singer Dom introduced the old heart-crooner as his father’s favourite song, and it clearly has some personal significance to him: his vocal delivery was far more impassioned than any of Millions’ original songs. This cover is begging for the triple j Like a Version treatment.
The passion found in this song actually highlighted the only flaw in Millions’ performance: there wasn’t enough emotion in a lot of their songs and there was a lack of stage presence. However, by the second half of the set, this had largely subsided, and the band looked like they were having a much better time.
In the latter part of their performance they shone with the excellent Slow Burner and ended impressively on Guru. Later in the year, Millions will be touring with label-mates Ball Park Music. Judging from this performance, that show will definitely be one to see.
BY JOSH THORBURN
Loved: The surprising cover of Unchained Melody.
Hated: The people talking behind me.
Drank: Water.
