Augie March at the Fly by Night

By Elaine Jung

May 22, 2006

Fremantle’s Fly By Night Club was teeming with indie rock fans last Thursday, as Augie March played an alluring interlace of dreamy drifts and poetic pop to a sell-out crowd.

The funky décor of the club’s giant revamped shed provided an ideal backdrop for the band’s amazingly strong on-stage presence.

Promoting their latest album Moo, You Bloody Choir the rising Melbourne band opened the night with the dynamic beats and melancholy undertones of A Cold Acre.

The performance mingled with popular grabs from their first album Sunset Studies, evoking the often lyrically wry and witty songs that encapsulate the uniqueness of Augie March.

Met with eager applause was their latest album’s first single One Crowded Hour, a goose-bump inspiring melody of quixotic tempos and sweet melodrama.

Other new favourites such as Victoria’s Secrets and Mother Greer soon followed, flaunting the familiar melodic panache of One Crowded Hour.

A blown amplifier clearly frustrated lead singer-songwriter Glenn Richards. “Sorry about this guys, it’s annoying when things don’t go to plan. Just don’t blame the sound-check man,” he laughed.

However, the crowd seemed largely oblivious to the pre-show hic-up which forced Richards to use an unfamiliar guitar.

The live-set certainly added drama to old favourite Owen’s Lament. Played in a soft lingering repose, the song swiftly climbed in volume and stamina to an uplifting rapturous rhythm, finished the night with spirited oomph.