As I stumbled into Melbourne Zoo just as the sun was setting, I was greeted by a mass of people and a rather unexpected sight. Young, trendy, inner city mums and dads pushing strollers, little kids running around excitedly, hipsters sipping on boutique beers and old dudes with grey stubble and worn band t-shirts. Where the fuck am I? I thought. Welcome to Zoo Twilights: a mix mash of people all gathered in the one place in the name of rock.
Tonight’s instalment featured the one and only Something for Kate, perhaps this country’s finest purveyors of thoughtful, intelligent indie/rock. On a particularly cold summer’s evening, even for Melbourne’s standards, the sound coming from the stage was surprisingly good, despite the presence of a strong, gusty wind. The core group of Something for Kate have been playing together for well over a decade now so it’s not so much a case of wondering whether they will perform well, it’s more about what songs they play from the vast and expansive back catalogue.
Their performance tonight was solid as always, the real difference these days being Paul Dempsey’s voice which is so much stronger than it used to be. They played through a number of tracks from their 2012 record Leave Your Soul to Science and then began to delve into their older material. Monsters seemed more than appropriate, considering that we were surrounded on all sides by wild beasts, laying wait in the dark. The atmosphere throughout was festive as the crowd sipped on beers and munched on burgers and by the time it was dark, old classics Captain and Pinstripe had the die hards playing air drums with vigour. Set closer Déjà Vu finished things off nicely and capped off a unique and thoroughly enjoyable evening.
BY JIMBO JONES
Loved: The dude next to me playing the best air drums ever.
Hated: The thought that at any moment a lion could tear us all to shreds.
Drank: H20.
