Polyphonic Spree @ The Powerhouse 19/02/10

With brightly coloured feather headdresses, masquerade masks and an abundance of smiles waiting for every punter at the door to the Powerhouse, this was always going to be a special night. The New Orleans Carnivale themed evening was sponsored by Southern Comfort who poured on free costumes, cheap beverages and a silly amount of balloons in bringing the mass collective of musicians to Brisbane.

The New Orleans Bingo Show kicked off the event with some somewhat terrifying experimental cabaret mixed in with elements of jazz and soul as a complicated theatrical performance played out on stage. After the initial shock of it all the crowd quickly warmed to the comedic skits, dancing hookers, dramatic costumes and some interactive bingo! What was surely the most unique performance to grace the stage of the powerhouse in a long while also acted as a great support with the crowd beaming as they awaited the entrance of the Polyphonic Spree.



It really is a stunning visual when a twenty piece band featuring a complete horn and strings section, four guitarists, two drummers, a small choir and scores of other instrumentalists hit the stage. It is especially impressive when this immensely talented bunch is completely overshadowed by one weedy Texan who looks and sounds like a partitioner. This is indeed the case with Tim DeLaughter, the front man with The Polyphonic Spree.

Sparing not a second, the band launched straight into crowd favourites ‘Hold me now’ and ‘Light and Day’ which got the crowd leaping around and hugging each other after the first ten minutes. Following up with an overwhelmingly excitable version of the Bond theme to ‘Live and Let Die’, even McCartney and Wings would have been all smiles as the first of the hundreds of launches of confetti fired into the air. With all eyes fixed on the glowing front man the band exploded through epics off their newest release ‘The Fragile Army’ encouraging some goose bump inducing crowd sing-a-longs and a little bit of freeze theatre of their own.

Impressive as their own material is, tonight didn’t seem to be about the Polyphonic Spree’s music with the majority of the set consisting of stirring renditions of band favourites. A Tommy medley finishing with ‘Pinball Wizard’ put The Who to shame as was the case with the Rolling Stones classic ‘She’s a Rainbow’ and Thunderclap Newman’s ‘Something in the Air.’ The versatility of the band was exemplified with sure crowd favourite and first encore ‘Lithium’ which saw the hundreds of balloons carefully strapped to the roof tumble down as the crowd moshed around to the Nirvana classic.

Be as skeptical as you like, but even the most hardened punter couldn’t ignore the growing ora of happiness the band creates onstage. Returning through the crowd for a few more encores in the bands trademark white robes, the sheer joy on the faces of the collective only added to the euphoric feeling around the tiny Powerhouse room. Praising the crowd whilst attempting to understand how to gain residency in Australia, DeLaughter closed the set with Neil Diamonds ‘Sweet Caroline’. With punters leaving with beaming smiles and the merchandise table suitably pillaged, The Polyphonic Spree left their mark on another lucky Brisbane audience.