Many people would get nervous about their gig with a devil in the house. Others might make the obligatory "Horny Devil" comments - but none of these were forthcoming  on Augie March's first headlining Adelaide gig. About to head home to Melbourne, and with singer Glenn's voice literally on its last legs, the presence of the Devil in the Holdfast Hotel may have been worrying. But luck was on everyone's side - Glenn's voice held out for the duration of the set and I was treated to three very different but excellent performances.

First on the bill was Adelaide band Avon, bringing forth their rather excellent brand of hook laden guitar pop. A comparison may be made between Ali's vocal style and that of Sarah McLeod of the Superjesus - but where the Superjesus assault the ears with a dense wall of sound that pounds and pounds away, Avon comes on much more melodic, with the bass and drums setting a great tone for Ali's voice and Phil's semi art noise guitar work with a rather impressive pedal board. With a set consisting of some new songs and material from the Box Set EP (a review of that in coming weeks - but an early tip - BUY IT) and a small foray into improvisation, Avon showed themselves to be a tight cohesive unit with a well rounded set that started the evening's proceedings in an excellent manner.

The Avon set list was as follows:

Fall Sky

Affection

Callisto

Box Set

Opener

Sally

Daytime TV

Stay

 Next up was another Adelaide based band in Rash. Until recently Rash was a three piece that  consisted of Ben (drums and vocals), Nat (guitar and vocals) and Justin (bass no vocals). However,  there has been a recent addition to the band of Ben number 2 in order to fill out the live sound a  little more with guitar and some keyboard and no vocals. This combination works! I am unsure if  the last time I saw Rash it had just been a bad night or it was bad sound mix, but I was not won over on that occasion. On this night however, I was blown away - here was a band playing good  music and enjoying themselves. While there were no weak songs in the set, playing mainly newer  material with some older material from the Vacationer EP and To Be Looked At?. EP, I still have to say that the best songs for me are the ones where the bass distort comes out high - the resulting  songs are pure raunch with 5 Sleeps being the best example. The only downside to what had been  an excellent set was some amp problems for Justin, but they did not last long. It was great to see good music played by people who are genuinely having fun, and the smiles on stage proved  how much fun Rash were having. For anyone, keep a weather eye on this band (who are soon to change their name to avoid confusion with a Sydney based band also called Rash) and if you get the opportunity to see them live, do so!

The set list was as follows:

Motion

FNOC

Let You Know

Arch

5 Sleeps

Brown

Sour Sensation

In Dream

Anon

11:20 rolled around, people began milling at the front of the stage, and Augie March casually made their way on stage by lamp light, ready to display their rather impressive talents. There has been huge conjecture in recent times over the best voice in Australia: Tim Rogers thinks it is Bernard Fanning, Bernard Fanning thinks it is Alex Lloyd and then we get iOTA tossed into the equation. Tonight left me with absolutely no doubt: Glenn Richards. Here was a man for whom swallowing was causing a lot of pain and talking near impossible, yet still his voice causes shivers up my spine. I believe that it is not purely the voice that does it - it is the songs as well. Each song is well crafted, well orchestrated and comes onto the ears with no abrasion. The band shows such synchronicity that it truly is a team effort. Remove any member of the team and the effect would not be as good.

Due to time constraints and the preservation of Glenn's voice, it was a short set, with only 6 songs played in total. However, these six songs lasted 40 minutes, with 4 new songs and 2 songs from the Waltz EP. There was a call for requests for the last song of the evening, with calls made for Future Seal, Movie Monday and The Moth Ball - The Moth Ball won. Calls for requests were also made Friday night at the end of the set for the final song, with it a toss up between the new Tasman Awaking and Future Seal. Future Seal won, with a promise made, and kept to have Tasman Awaking as the first song on Saturday night - a band that keeps its promises, that is what I like to see. It was an excellent set which, irrespective of length, was never going to be long enough.

Augie March have the necessary talents, growing fan base and the supports to take themselves to the top, and there could be few bands more deserving.

The set list was as follows:

Tasman Awaking

Marinda Reservoir

Here Comes The Night

Owen's Lament

Asleep in Perfection

The Moth Ball

- Jodie Rigney

Back to press