STICKY FINGERS | LIVE REVIEW
The Moon Club, Cardiff, Mon 24 Nov
What better way to banish the shivers of a bitterly cold night than with some sunny, feel-good entertainment, provided by a group of psych-reggae rockers from down under? My thoughts exactly.
The evening got started in a slightly odd fashion. After being ushered from the Moon Club’s main room into a more intimate setting next door, early birds were confronted with an acoustic jam session, which I’m not entirely sure had any relevance to the gig whatsoever and had a tendency to drag on.
Continuing in this space were Cardiff-based Howl, the first real support act. Despite only playing a stripped-back set of a couple of songs, excitement in the room noticeably began to grow, and this theme was continued under the immensely talented Lyle Maloney, who kicked off the action in the main venue. Hand-picked by Sticky Fingers to feature throughout their European tour, the fellow Australian demonstrated his skill in live looping and created a discernible buzz throughout the venue which the main act would have surely loved to follow. The confusion was apparent when a further support act took to the stage. This time it was Hipicat, another local band who, in all honesty, were a fairly unnecessary addition to proceedings.
Relief and excitement were mixed in equal parts when Sticky Fingers finally took to the stage. With this, the last of a mammoth 50-date tour in support of their latest album Land Of Pleasure, the five-piece had one final chance to share their unique and versatile brand of party music, before jetting off back to the Oz. From the off, the crowd was in awe of the mesmerising concoction of sounds. With influences stretching from Britpop to ska, punk to drum’n’bass, the result was a distinctive explosion that everyone could share in. The leaders on stage kept the party going throughout, in a style that was confident but never obnoxious.
The prolific energy on display was what could be expected from the opening night of a tour, not the last, with each song climaxing in a state of euphoria. Although difficult to pick out individual highlights from the performance, it’s worth noting the intensity and emotion that came with the final song Australia Street, which brought to a close an epic journey for the lads – something they appeared genuinely gutted about.
By all accounts, this raucous group of mavericks will be back on these shores in April, something which I couldn’t be more thrilled about given the emphatic performance witnessed.
words GETHIN THOMAS
