Reviewed on Tuesday July 1
Have you ever heard the saying “dance like nobody’s watching”? Swimwear – AKA Dappled Cities frontman Tim Derricourt – lives by it. He warned the seated crowd before a single beat was played that his style of camp, electro-tinged indie-pop might be “a bit loud” for the audience, but ultimately he needn’t have worried. His charm was undeniable from the moment he arrived onstage, creating his own vibe and casting a myriad of smiles among the quickly assembling crowd.
Derricourt performed using a series of backing tracks from his iPhone, occasionally accompanying himself on lead guitar. It was when he was free from the six-string, however, that he truly thrived as a performer: his shamelessly cheesy dance moves – a mix of ’90s boy bands and your uncle at a wedding reception – were the icing on the already delicious cake that was his selection of super-fun and irrepressibly catchy tunes.
By the time Kaoru Ishibashi – better known as Kishi Bashi – finally arrived onstage some 30 minutes after Swimwear’s departure, anticipation was extremely high inside the well and truly sold-out room. This naturally transferred over to the man himself, who flubbed the set-up of his loops for opener ‘Hahaha Pt. 1’ and had to apologise before starting over. It’s a pretty big deal when you can say something as blissfully innocent as that marked the single worst thing that happened all night.
It was all smiles, all laughs and all pure, unadulterated joy. Ishibashi was as happy to be in Australia for his first-ever headlining show as the audience was to have him there. He was even kind enough to invite some of the smaller members of the audience who were having trouble seeing to form a semi-circle around him onstage.
Ishibashi showcased tracks from both of his studio albums using only his violin, his loop station and a surprisingly impressive set of beatboxing skills. Watching the songs in this re-imagined and precisely crafted manner added a whole new layer to how one perceived them, and it was a delightful thing to behold. The night ended with a hearty sing-along to ‘Manchester’, which features a lyric that perhaps summed up the evening better than anything else could: “I haven’t felt this alive in a long time”.
