Clare Bowditch And The Feeding Set, Dan Kelly And The Alphamales, Dane Tucquet
Fowler's Live
Fri 23 June

Dane Tucquet is a performance risk-taker. And I respect that. You surely command a lot of respect by playing in front of a growing crowd, singing a capella. You command even more respect when your singing style ranges from a low Tom Waits grumble to a falsetto wail, with very little attention paid to melody or coherence. You command even more respect by playing a song on guitar, not using the strings, but rather using the wood as a rhythm instrument. Tucquet and his anonymous accomplice did all these things and more, interspersed between which were a few audibly coherent pieces of Waits-style pop songwriting. His risks were somewhat alienating - he left his audience behind partway through the journey - but it was a gallant effort nonetheless.

Somewhat less inspiring were Dan Kelly and his Alphamales, whose punchy and tight set was weakened for me somewhat by the fact that I'm not a huge fan of Kelly's songs. Don't get me wrong, he's a great performer with a fantastic presence, and he's a very endearing gent on stage. And the crowd seemed to love him - there was a lot of motion in the room for set opener Step Forward. But it's a little too tacky for me - so I'm happy to conclude by saying that what he did, he did well.

Clare Bowditch has done rather well for herself. By my estimation, it was barely two years ago that I saw her play to a warm and cozy crowd at the Jade Monkey - now, she's playing to a packed house at Fowler's Live. And while she deserves every bit of this extra attention, the large crowd does attack the intimacy for which she has become famous. Of particular note were the two highly medicated individuals directly in front of me, whose acrobatic, rhythm-free dance moves and ear-splitting wolf whistles were somewhat underappreciated by band and audience alike. But Bowditch's audience is an affable one - uncharacteristically female-dominated, and in strong voice, particularly when led into the coda of Lips Like Oranges.

As for the Feeding Set, they were in superb form, better than ever before, mostly because of the incredible contribution of guitarist Tim Harvey. Now, I'm a reverent follower of the ministry of J Walker, the first Feeding Set lead guitarist (and the man behind Machine Translations), but Harvey's sound is so unique, his playing is so varied - he fingerpicks guitar solos, ˆ la The Doors' Robby Krieger, and he sounds like he just came off a flight from 1973. The extended introduction of Human Being was an absolute treat, as was the entire carefully-picked set (foregoing many of the less interesting, more pop-friendly Bowditch moments in favour of her more clever and beautiful work), right up to the thrilling finale of the amazing Midnight Bird. A good night was had by all, I imagine - especially the two girls in front of me, I tell you, they had a ball.

Ben Revi

Pic: Alan Riely