Live at Manning
Daniel Harris reviews Paul Dempsey, Live at Manning Bar.
*ed’s note: apologies for the double helping of Dempsey love on this blog this week. But he’s awesome. Check him out.
I’ve always liked Manning Bar as a venue, the crowd always seems friendlier (compared to Enmore where I’ve had some shocking crowds) and the set up is ideal, not just a bar that slapped a stage together where the jukebox used to be. The sunken dance floor allows for decent view of the band wherever you stand and the sound is always mixed together fairly well. However, the size of Paul Dempsey and his band essentially means you could see them no matter where you stand, as Dempsey himself stated they’ve got to be “the tallest band in Australia” at the moment. Making my now diminutive stature of 5’10” somewhat emasculating (I take comfort in the about 5’2” height of my companion for the evening though).
Digression aside, the response to Paul Dempsey’s new album has been generally positive, an effective mix of lyrical melodies and ideas working in concert with Dempsey’s knack for crafting intelligent soulful music just slightly skewed from the norm. He’ll most likely be a top 20 Hottest 100 artist by Australia Day next year. In spite of this, I was surprised by the Pavlovian style reaction of some people to the suggestion of listening to Paul Dempsey for a night. Its Something For Kate all over again – an iconic Australian band that nevertheless has always polarised their audience. Some don’t like Dempsey’s voice, or the odd rhythms. Occasional meandering vocals can sound like one or two extra words have been snuck in for the sake of the lyrics at the expense of the melody (think of some moments in Echolalia: Monsters and Three Dimensions make pretty good examples). However, Dempsey’s solo release eschewed such approaches in general and produced a bunch of songs that not only sound great on record but come out well live.
The experience of Paul Dempsey behind a mike and indeed his surprising prowess on a guitar was immediately obvious, with a great stage presence and a voice that cuts through the music and reaches the crowd no matter what noise the band is creating. The band itself was surprisingly tight, sounding like they’ve played together for years (only put together a couple of months ago). Incredibly, his singles proved the weakest moments in the night. Ramona was a Waitress is a great song and perfectly layered adding a new instrument and motifs at key moment on record, but this approach is hard to pull off live and resulted in something a little messier. Similarly Out the Airlock suffered from being a quiet song that may have been slightly rushed.
The absolute crackers of the night were Fast Friends, Bird in a Basement (dedicated to his grandmother for the night), Take us to Your Leader and The Great Optimist, buoyant, emotive and expertly played with the band clearly enjoying every moment during these songs. A few SFK songs also got a play when Dempsey was on his own out the front with an acoustic. Stunt Show off Echolalia brought a few Woo’s from the crowd but my particular favourite was Max Planck from The Official Fiction release performed for an encore, a great song and fantastic stripped back with just a voice and a guitar.
While the tour is short and who knows when Dempsey will tour on his lonesome again, it’s definitely a great live set he’s crafted out. Even for those who despise SFK after Echolalia, Paul Dempsey is definitely worth another listen and if you’re lucky enough to be in one of the few places where he’s touring grab a ticket it’s worth a look.
