Eveleigh’s Carriageworks is a fascinating and underutilised arts hub. With several outer rooms and vast areas, it’s puzzling as to why it’s not put to use more often. Seeing one of its main halls converted into the atmosphere of a warehouse rave for a special performance from English electro veterans Goldfrapp, one quickly takes note of both its strengths and weaknesses as a live music venue. This also plays into the dynamics of Goldfrapp as a live entity; impacting on what works and what doesn’t.
Admittedly, opening with two slower, quieter numbers doesn’t instil a great deal of hope for how the rest of the show will unfurl. Not because either song – ‘Utopia’ and ‘Lovely Head’ – is inherently bad. But in the context of what is, for all intents and purposes, a dance show, they bring down the excitable vibe that has only just hit as Alison Goldfrapp entered from stage left.
Again, the venue choice factors in here, as the expanses of such a big hall means the subtleties of such songs are all but wisps in the wind to inane chatter from the back. That all changes, however, when the churn of the bass-synth signals the arrival of one of the band’s most infectious singles, ‘Anymore’.
The vibe immediately shifts: bodies in motion, sound system booming and the energy onstage stepping up to another level. It’s in this context that Goldfrapp thrive – ‘Train’ keeps the momentum up, as does the spaced-out twist of ‘Everything Is Never Enough’.
Alison is every bit the theatrical frontwoman, throwing herself into every lyric and enforcing the overarching themes of passion and desire. Being that it’s a performance for Vivid, it’s also worth noting that the light show really enhances the mood of each song, turning the musicians into shadowy figures during the darker moments and bathing them in strobe when the time arrives to rave unto the joy fantastic.
By the time the encore rolls around, we’re down to business with some of the band’s signature songs – ‘Black Cherry’, ‘Lock And Load’, ‘Ooh La La’ and, of course, ‘Strict Machine’. At this stage, any and all shortcomings – either from the curation of the setlist or from the venue itself – are flung out the window as the party rolls on.
It’s easy to love a Goldfrapp show, really – all you have to do is dance.
Goldfrapp played Carriageworks on Friday June 2. Photos by Ashley Mar
