Watching The Cat Empire play a live gig in Melbourne is like watching your mates play at a house party. There is a mutual love between the crowd and the band – we know all the members and the words to their songs, and they know what songs we want to hear and are happy to provide.
We walked in as Flap! were just finishing up. I regret not coming in earlier as the response from the crowd was overwhelming. The four-piece have a great chemistry and the musical talent to match.
Chants for The Cat Empire began immediately, and the boys didn’t keep us waiting long.
They opened with How To Explain, which had everyone screaming, “Music is the language of us all!” before fading out with a much jazzier end.
The tour was launching the band’s latest single, Brighter Than Gold, so it was no surprise that a lot of the songs were also new. We got a sneak peak at tracks Steal The Light and the African-inspired Wild Animals. However, the crowd still got to hear a long list of old favourites, including Sly, Call Me Home, Fishies and The Wine Song, which could have induced seasickness from the crowd swaying side to side.
Solo instrumentals are fundamental to a Cat Empire gig, and there was no shortage here. Ollie provided a nice keyboard intro before ‘Til the Ocean Takes Us All and wowed us all again during Sly, Will provided a lengthy percussion solo during In My Pocket, and the brass section supplied regular big-band moments during the set.
They finished off with The Chariot and said “It’s great to be back in Melbourne” before leaving the stage. For encore, they played new track Still Young, and Felix explained “This is a song that you won’t know, but just pretend that you do”.
The track was catchy but hard to get excited for when we didn’t know the words. Luckily the boys ended it with Two Shoes and the crowd rejoiced while shouting along word for word.
BY CHRIS BRIGHT
LOVED: The epic solos (particularly Will’s percussion).
HATED: It was pretty hot in there.
DRANK: Coopers.
