Parquet Courts are a swirling mass of fun live. I managed to see them a little while back at a Laneway Festival but this was my first time seeing them live in their own show. So Friday night at the Metro was totally worth the wait. They are just truly dynamic live. But a confession, I am not a huge fan of all their recorded works. I love many of their songs but not every song hits with me. But live when you get the best of their songs it all comes to togther perfectly.

Parquet Courts I think are hard to categorise. Sure they are an American four piece rock band. Seems fairly conventional. But their music is not just rock. It contains unusual time signatures, it can be funky. it can be jazzy. They have long jams and flat out rockers. It all comes together perfectly. In this show they played a fair bit off their 2021 album 'Sympathy For Life'  including my favourite in 'Walking at a Downtown Pace'. But plenty of older tunes had the crowd going. Especially the back to back of 'Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience' and 'Freebird II'. The band are multidimensional too with all joining in on the vocals. Alhtough Andrew Savage does most of the lead vocals. Early on in the show bassist Sean Yeaton's amp blew but that was really the only speed bump in what was truly an excellent show.

Set List

Application/Apparatus

Human Performance

Dust

Almost Had to Start a Fight/In and Out of Patience

Freebird II

Marathon of Anger

Zoom Out

Walking at a Downtown Pace

Wide Awake

Plant Life

Light Up Gold II

Homo Sapien

Black and White

Mardi Gras Beads

Stoned and Starving

Pulcinella

Live music is thankfully back in full swing and Monday night was another step back onto the journey of returning to normal. This time it was hyped British band Wet Leg at the Oxford Art Factory, my first show at this venue since early 2020. Wet Leg released their excellent debut album earlier this year to much excitement. They then scored a spot on the Splendour in the Grass lineup, but sadly their Friday spot was cancelled due to the horrendous weeather. Luckily they still had gigs in Sydney and Melbourne lined up. A sold out crowd gave them a rapturous reception and the young band gave all of us a great night.  With only one album behind them it was a short hour of action with all of the debut record being played. Many favourites on the night but my personal highlights were 'Wet Dream', 'Too Late Now' and 'Angelica'. Oh and of course the magnetic 'Chaise Longue'. They also played 'Smoko', the song by The Chats in their short encore. The band features Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale with Teasdale taking nearly all the lead vocals. And live they are fleshed out by 3 more members on guitars, keyboards and drums. It all adds up to a beefy sound with plenty of power. Wet Leg showed the goods on their first Australian visit, hopefully we will see them again soon.

Set List
Being in Love
Wet Dream

Convincing

Supermarket

It's Not Fun

Obvious

Oh No

Ur Mum

I Want to Be Abducted (By a UFO)

Too Late Now

Angelica

Chaise Longue

Smoko (The Chats cover)