FLUME + CHET FAKER @ Festival Hall – May 2nd

The walk down Dudley St to  Festival Hall , love it or hate it, is filled with many young, wide-eyed kids bursting with excitement- some a bit too excited and on their third stick of gum already. And it’s not even 8pm. Kids these days… But I digress.

After lining up to get inside the venue I begin to question whether I’m the oldest person here, and that perhaps this is a reflection on just who  Harley Streten aka Flume ‘s has struck a chord with.

The venue is half full as Chet Faker ‘s band begins playing an atmospheric introduction, and although the crowd isn’t too large, a roar fills the venue as Chet himself walks on stage and sits comfortably at his keys. What’s striking is that the band is all set up evenly spaced and all in a neat line, with Chet on one end. He’s not placed directly in front of everyone else, or even in the middle. It all gives off a very laid-back feel that is almost as if you’ve stumbled across a few good mates having a jam, and it’s quite special to see.

Unfortunately, the mood is quickly dashed by the punters all over the venue loudly having conversations with their friends. This proves to be a problem throughout Chet Faker’s set, with his croon’s of ‘ Love and Feeling ‘ and ‘ Terms and Conditions ‘ being drowned out by the chatter. At one point Chet moves away from his keys to play sample based ‘ Cigarettes and Chocolate ‘ that piques a bit of movement from the crowd and people begin to find their groove. An acknowledgment of those unlucky folk in the bleachers yields a large cheer of appreciation from those dedicated show-goers.

After introducing his talented band to the Chet Faker begins ‘ I’m Into You ‘ and the crowd becomes receptive and sings along for most of the song, leading into the most vocal part of the set where the band finished with ‘ No Diggity ‘. The venue is now at capacity and a thunderous applaud follows the end of the set, but one has to wonder whether Faker’s tunes are suited to such a large venue. They all seem so delicate and intimate that the feeling is lost in such a large space. The crowd doesn’t seem to mind though, because it’s almost go time for Flume.

After a couple of drinks down in the dungeon bar of Festival Hall, it’s time to head back upstairs in time for the beginning of the evening’s headliner. The stage has Flume’s ‘ Infinity Prism ‘, the namesake of the tour, in front of his. It’s the size of the table and through LED and mirror trickery it gives the illusion that it’s a neverending hole. But due to the rest of the stage setup, this comes across as pretty tacky, since the three giant LED panels above the stage and giant diamond LED wall behind the entire stage draw all the attention away from the little prism that just could not.

The lights dim and the crowd goes ballistic as a new introduction to Flume’s tried and tested set begins with hints of Rustie flourishing in and out for a couple of minutes as Flume appears and gets funky with his drum pad. Each hit ties in with the visuals beating in and out with every hit, and as the intro fades out and into the familiar ‘ More Than You Thought ‘ with the ‘ Sleepless ‘ acapella over the top, it’s made clear that the production side of this tour certainly dresses to impress. The rear LED diamonds all flash seperately, flow into each other, all in time with the music, whilst the visuals are simply stunning with each song having its own theme of  visual presentation ensuring that there’s always something new to look at and take in, as experienced during ‘Sleepless’ as footage of the vocal being sung is chopped and screwed in time with the recording.

The What So Not remix of Major Lazer ‘s ‘ Get Free ‘ has everyone in the venue dancing, even both sides of the bleacher stands can’t contain their excitement. It leads into an edit of ‘ Warm Thoughts ‘ that gives the song a bouncier feel and before you know it, ‘ Holdin On ‘ can be heard coming into the mix and as it breaks into its introduction the crowd has one of their peaks this evening as the venue sings along and dances recklessly without a care in the world.

A short breather leads into ‘ Sintra ‘ into a long breakdown with the acapella of ‘ Insane ‘ droning out before going head first into its driving beat, Flume the entire time grinning ear to ear and commanding the crowd to raise their arms, clap along or just get funky as he would see fit. The rest of the set sees a lot of the album played with notable visuals for ‘ On Top ‘ recalling a Speed Racer / Wip3out LSD race really causing a stir amongst the crowd.

The ‘new’ remix of Rustie’s ‘ Slasherr ‘ ’ends’ the set with the lights dimming and into another completely pointless wait for an encore. Why hasn’t ‘ Left Alone ‘ been played yet? Chet Faker is here, that makes sense, right? Oh, there’s someone setting up a mic stand, here we go. A thunderous rampaging thump begins to fill the venue with the crowd clapping with their feet (stamping?) to get Flume to come back out and satisfy their need for more beats. And what do you know, he came back!

The encore begins with his remix of New Navy ‘s ‘ Zimbabwe ‘ that has a few people grooving and singing along, but the true highlight of the night is when Chet Faker comes on stage to perform ‘Left Alone’. The tune really benefits from a live vocal and Faker’s vocal is pure bliss to behold and as he wails towards the tail end of the song everyone is in acceptance that what was witnessed was truly something special. And what better way to follow that up than with a brand new song with Chet Faker, that has got a vocal loop by Faker  that is sure to have many chants going once people get their ears on it.It’s an earworm for sure.

And now all that is left is ‘ Hyperparadise ‘ and as expected it provides one of the most entertaining responses of the night, with a couple of attempts at crowd surfing and a three-man totem pole that didn’t end as badly as it could have.

Flume has really set out to make a statement with this headline tour. And although the infinity prism turned out to be a bit of a dud, the rest of the stage presentation is fantastic and the highly produced visuals really give his show some edge and distinction from other artists. It has to be noted though that Flume could really benefit from adding more of a ‘live’ aspect to his shows, whether it be through more samples being triggered live to a musician or two, because as it stands there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot going on on stage, and with some more interaction it could really elevate the performance further.

That being said, sold-out shows all over the country are proof that his popularity is as high as ever. And who knows, perhaps in a year or two we may see something larger, the  Sidney Myer Music Bowl perhaps?

REVIEW BY JACOBO ARENAS

WORDS BY Jacobo Arenas Gonzalez

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