The curtains parted to reveal a sole keyboardist, crooning a cryptically foreshadowing, vocoder-strained rendition of the refrain from Dirty Old Man. Before we knew it, the band kicked straight into the impossibly infectious groove of Body Double, commanding the sold-out Corner bandroom into an irresistible bop. Then all of a sudden, first song in, we’re treated to a goddamn saxophone solo. Holy shit.
Initially it’s difficult to digest the myriad of elements which make The Vaudeville Smash so damn good, with a brash, charismatic leading man fronting a crack band of horns, drums, keys and guitar – all culminating in one explosively dynamic package.
Around halfway through the set, the night’s not-so-secret weapon was brought onstage in The Vaudeville Smash Orchestra. It was a sight to behold, providing a visually and aurally stunning showcase of strings, most notably during the breakdown of Fox On Fire. I’ve never seen Paul McCartney nor Guns N Roses do Live And Let Die live, but I can’t imagine that they’d ever come close to the orchestral theatrics on show tonight.
Coerced onstage for a rapturous encore, the band trod through a hit-and-miss take on Hall & Oates’ Rich Girl. While it was nice to see a homage to their yacht-rock forefathers, it lacked the energy of the original Smash compositions.
Turns out the night’s opening strains of Dirty Old Man served as an ingenious means to a bookend, with the band bidding farewell with a fully-fledged disco boogie – capping of a satisfyingly exhausting night with “You’re fucking beautiful, you blow my mind.”
It was a sentiment reciprocated by the full house on the floor. I’ll be damned if The Vaudeville Smash aren’t the most mindblowingly refreshing live act to emerge from Melbourne since Darryl-knows when.
