Reviewed on Thursday July 21
Light of finger, heavy on the charm, Essex-based Nothing But Thieves stole their own damn Splendour sideshow with an absolutely bonkers performance for 500 lucky concertgoers.
Cronulla-turned-Melburnians Strangers kicked off the night. Obviously the audience was there to see NBT, but their stomping huge take on hard rock had everyone blown away. Led by the Hawaiian-shirt-wearing Ben Britton, Strangers are a rare kind of band indeed; candid and plain-spoken about depression and needing to seek help by way of medication. Much of their material was taken from their upcoming second album, of which ‘The Wall’ was an undeniable standout. Written out of anger at the racism that has forever tainted their hometown, the song is an act of reclaiming pride for where you’re from. By then, they had the sold-out crowd eating out of their hand, so a selfie with the audience was never going to be a problem. Definitely a band to watch.
Nothing But Thieves took to the stage with a most unfortunate of setbacks; the centre mic had dropped out. Simply put, frontman Conor Mason has a set of pipes and vocal range that would tempt even the most heartstong of devils. Technical problems beset ‘Itch’, and weren’t resolved for another two songs. Despite this, ‘Hostage’ still managed to be spine-tinglingly magic, as was their Radiohead-channelling follow-up ‘Honey Whiskey’.
It is quite easy to be cynical about a one-album band fleshing out its hour-long slot with a cover, however the Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’ innately lends itself to Mason’s vocal acrobatics. The five-piece injected the ’80s classic with newfound delicacy. It was just a joy to hear, and so was the bombastic closer, ‘Ban All The Music’. And throughout it all, the audience sang along.
Despite being clearly inspired by the likes of Radiohead, Muse and Jeff Buckley, Nothing But Thieves have a sound and energy all of their own.
