Polish Club @ Badlands Bar
w/ Dulcie, Homebrand
Saturday, June 22, 2019
The weather didn’t quite welcome Polish Club to WA, but it didn’t stop their show at Badlands Bar on Saturday night from being anything short of a party. With all local acts on support duties, it was one of the band’s best yet western performances.
Homebrand opened up the night with their Aus style punk, which pleased those who’d come down early, and those who were drinking inside to avoid the rain. Highlights were popular tracks Blue and Picket Fence.
Back after being on the road with Polish Club for their entire tour, Dulcie were happy to be back in front of a hometown audience. The four piece were impressive with their beautiful vocals, and even got a few people singing along to their debut single, Fall. They also played a beautiful cover of Methyl Ethel’s Ubu, adding just a little bit more WA talent to a night that was already quite full of it.
JH and Novak walked out onto the stage with their newly acquired third member on bass guitar, Wade, who before joining in on live shows, was already the band’s producer, and basically an honorary member. Polish Club opened with hit single We Don’t Care before moving into their latest album’s titular track, Iguana. Both the crowd and the band were absolutely loving the songs, and the room was full of energy.
Only three songs in and a cymbal had already fallen off JH’s drum riser, and a string on Novak’s guitar had broken, but nothing could stop the duo. Novak sat for ballad and fan favourite, Don’t Fuck Me Over which incited a huge singalong, before the band brought the energy right back up to their usual level (with a fixed guitar string).
Hit single and favourite Beat Up got the crowd jumping, plus some older fans moshing next to the stairs which was quite worrying when they almost fell down them, and this hit was followed up with Gimme Money which only caused more of a ruckus. The duo then did a mini cover of MGMT’s Electric Feel which increased the singing along. They then rounded out the main set with a trio of bangers, starting with Come Party, then launching into the first single they released from their sophomore set, Clarity, before finishing off with a huge fan favourite from their debut, Divided.
When the duo came back on stage for their encore, they played an unexpected and much loved cover of LCD Soundsystem’s Daft Punk Is Playing At My House which was definitely a highlight of the night. They finished off the night with Able which gave the crowd one last good singalong before they exited the stage for good.
Polish Club brought such a great energy to Badlands. Their show was so much fun, and witty, and a little bit of lame banter in between songs (I’m looking at your Perth facts, JH) just made it even better. Polish Club said to “have fun later, come party with me,” but a gig of theirs is both fun and a party.
KIERRA POLLOCK
