Birds of Tokyo @ Fremantle Prison
w/ Brayden Sibbald, Dulcie
Friday, January 8, 2021
There are those days where it’s so hot that the very thought of having to leave the comfort of air-conditioning is almost as draining as the heat itself. The only good reason to drag oneself out of said comfort is live music and thankfully, here in Perth, we still have the ability to gather in crowds to see some amazing homegrown talent.
Brayden Sibbald (one of the winners of triple j Unearthed last year) opened the evening and proceeded to blow the minds of the people who were there early. If you had asked people beforehand if they knew who he was and what he played, many would have responded with a shrug of their shoulders and an apologetic smile.
But Sibbald has a beautiful voice and his songs really set the scene at Fremantle Prison. His music is described as dance/electronic but don’t let that particular label put you off. He is a brilliant songwriter who sings in the vein of folk/indie/pop and the passion that he clearly feels for his music showed in his performance. If you haven’t heard of him, do yourself a favour and check his music out. It really is perfect for chilling out on a hot summer night.
Next up on stage was Dulcie – a four-piece who have been wowing Perth audiences for a couple of years now and Friday night was no different. Every time this reviewer has seen the band play, they’ve had big smiles plastered on their faces and the energy and joy they project from the stage is just one of the many reasons their shows are so enjoyable. They put their heart and soul into every performance.
It’s something that’s overused but overused for a reason – there is a symbiotic relationship between the band and crowd and when it’s so clearly presented like Dulcie, the crowd cannot help but be pulled into that energy and people were up and dancing before they had even gotten three songs into their set.
By the time Dulcie walked off stage, and as the evening air had cooled to a bearable temperature, the calibre of bands, the gorgeous setting of Fremantle Prison and Perth’s ability to gather in large crowds had brought a different kind of heat to Freo.
Birds of Tokyo walked out on stage to a sold-out crowd. The only one who was missing was guitarist Adam Spark who was stuck in Sydney as he was unable to get over to Perth before the borders closed again to NSW. Keyboardist Glenn Sarangapany took over for both shows at the prison. It was a role he was clearly waiting to fill for a long time as he jumped all over the stage and leapt from the drumkit.
They played all of their hits (though sadly only three tracks from their first two albums – Broken Bones, Silhouettic and Wayside) but as always, they put everything into their performance and got the whole crowd singing along to every song. It might have been said plenty of times before, but Birds of Tokyo are simply an excellent band who always put on a killer show.
It was the kind of scene that not only gives one goosebumps (of the good kind) but brings people together in ways that only music can and in a setting as beautiful, serene and ever so slightly spooky as Fremantle Prison, the atmosphere was highly charged and electrifying, adding a dimension like no other to the whole experience.
In these strange times, it’s an experience that we should be so grateful for as so many countries around the world can’t attend live music and there’s no word of when shows will start to come back either. It’s something that we need to hold on to for as long as we can, and in attending this event, it felt like there were plenty of us that plan to.
KAREN LOWE
Photos by Karen Lowe
