Reviewed onFriday May 6
Ball Park Music fans are a peculiarly passionate breed. Though the band plans to tour Australia again soon with bigger shows, it decided to host a selection of intimate gigs, advertising the ticket link almost exclusively through Snapchat. But this was no obstacle for an audience of ecstatic fans to completely pack out Oxford Art Factory.
Brisbane indie rock trio Mid Ayr warmed up the crowd with glistening, easy-flowing tunes. They had a comfortable confidence about them that made for a chilled atmosphere.
It became clear pretty quickly when Ball Park Music came onstage playing ‘iFly’, with the audience chanting every word back at them, that this was a gig geared at fans – a chance to have fun singing along and celebrating Ball Park Music’s work thus far.
With this in mind, the band didn’t stray too much from the recorded versions of its songs in the live performance. In fact, when singer Sam Cromack tried to alter the rhythm to the choral-like intro of ‘She Only Loves Me When I’m There’, the crowd only sang the original rhythm defiantly over the top, almost drowning him out.
Ball Park Music debuted some new tracks too (easily recognisable, as they were the only songs on which you could really hear the band over the audience). ‘Fearless’ featured an unwaveringly epic performance on the cowbell from drummer Daniel Hanson, while ‘Nihilist Party Anthem’ was reminiscent of the band’s earlier angsty sound.
The set particularly shone with well-known songs like ‘Coming Down’, where Cromack was so taken aback by the roaring response that he said, “Now I feel like people truly give a fuck.” The Queenslanders had fun with ‘Fence Sitter’, featuring a heavy, swirling guitar solo, and nailed their new seven-minute song, ‘Pariah’ (after a quick stretch to warm up of course).
With a pretty cover of Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ for their encore and a powerful rendition of ‘Cocaine Lion’, Ball Park Music confirmed their status as a versatile and well-loved Australian band with an impressive discography already behind them.
