Music
Tame Impala
Barrowland, Glasgow
Jonathan Geddes
Four stars
Tame Impala’s recent achievement of being the first band to top the new prog rock chart seems slightly incongruous. This gig, at a humid Barrowland where sweat dripped from front row to back, displayed that they are far more pop partiers than anything else.
Which isn’t to say that the Australian outfit don’t still display proggy elements or a musical creativity many of their peers lack, because that’s still present. What was noticeable, though, was just how accomplished they are at sparking continual dancing, even if the group themselves seemed to disappear at times beneath both hazy noise and the vibrant lighting display that bathed the stage in various hues.
Suitably psychedelic visuals whirled in the background throughout, while vocalist and founder Kevin Parker’s vocal was wraith-like, shimmering above the sounds. There were a few moments where this proved too airy to totally convince, with Eventually getting lost in a repetitive maze and Alter Ego more bland than the colourful display accompanying it.
However the rest of the 95-minute set was commanding in sound and nimble in tone. Opener Let It Happen metamorphosed from guitar pop into thunderous dance halfway through, and a string of muscular highlights arrived – the driving yet radio friendly Why Won’t They Talk To Me?, the filthy stomp of Elephant and a relentless version of Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind? all carried serious heft.
Yet Parker is a clever enough writer and musician not to rely purely on power, with The Less I Know The Better strutting in from a 1970s New York disco and Cause I’m A Man a bass-led ballad. The result was an experience clever in ideas and catchy in tunes throughout.
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