Floodlights + SPIKE FUCK + Mouseatoullie | Northcote Theatre
Floodlights were joined by SPIKE FUCK and Mouseatoullie for their “biggest show” yet at the Northcote Theatre, part of their ‘Can You Feel It’ tour which goes around Australia in October, and Europe in November.
I saw Floodlights for the first time at this year’s RecLink cup, where they played on the oval at Victoria Park as the sun set behind them. I’ve listened to them since, and they are one of the hottest bands in Melbourne, about to embark on a month-long tour of Europe after they wrap this leg in Australia.
Tonight I was joined by two friends who I saw Floodlights with at the ‘Forum II’ a couple of months ago. Before the show we had spinach and ricotta triangles and drank beers at their house in Northcote before missing the tram, and then finally arriving at the tail end of Mouseatoullie’s set (named after the infamous film, Ratatouille).
The Northcote theatre is a big old venue with ornate Roman ceilings and hardwood floors that has otherwise been completely renovated in the modern, minimal style of every other large venue in the Northern Suburbs. After getting a very expensive pint I walked up the stairs to the balcony, and after jostling for position at the front SPIKE FUCK took the stage.
Your girlfriends share house’s favourite artist, SPIKE FUCK is one of the best, and most widely appreciated songwriters in Melbourne. They write straightforward country songs about drugs and love and I was excited to finally see them. They were “missing a few members”, and played with a lineup of two acoustic guitars, two backup singers and a violin. Their recorded music is mostly synth-punk in the style of bands like Suicide, but they played a remarkable acoustic set of a completely different sound.
SPIKE FUCK wore a black leather jacket, aviators and a cowboy hat, and ended all their songs abruptly with very little talk in-between, playing a few simple chords and featuring the violin only sparingly. A direct performance, the thin lineup let the songwriting and harmonies between the four vocalists stand out, especially touching in their final song “Guts”. The moments that shone really shone.
After their set me and everybody else went to the smoking section behind the balcony which filled out within 2 minutes. Somebody behind me said “we’re sardines”, and the smokers spilled out into the hallway.
We went downstairs and squeezed around the side of the crowd to the front of the room, in front of a small bars where they were selling cans of beer from the corners of the stage. After about 15 minutes the lights dimmed and ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins came over the speakers. People started cheering and then as the drum break hit Floodlights came onto the stage.
The lead singer was in the same Kmart AC/DC shirt I’d once owned. The crowd cheered for the harmonica solo in their second song “Human”, and by their third track, crowd favourite ‘Wide Open Land’ the room was heating up. On stage the two singers Louis and Ashley leaned harder into their mics.
Floodlights are a continuation of the tradition of Australian rock in the vein of Paul Kelly or The Triffids. They play classic post-punk, and heavily feature the harmonica and the trumpet. They sing songs about driving through the bush and going to the beach but the feeling of their songs are ambiguous. Their music feels as though you’re wanting for something, on the way to somewhere.
Louis the lead singer rose to his toes and then fell back onto his heels when he delivered the chorus of ‘Can’t Break Free’ and the band all moved and writhed.
They left the stage and came back for a two-song encore of their biggest song ‘Nullarbor’ and then ‘Painting Of My Time’ for which the crowd sung the “whooaaa”s of the hook as soon as they played the first guitar riff. They finished very confidently, and were all smiling at each other as they left the stage and the house lights came up. A great set and the energy was high as people made their way out.
After the set my girlfriend told the security “I’m media, I need a setlist” and got one from the stage (cheeky), and everybody poured out sweating onto the street. At the tram stop there was a white corolla parked on the tracks, and a group of attendees from the show got together and lifted the car one end at a time out of the way. Arriving home we reheated our spinach and ricotta puffed pastry triangles and sat on the couch, all agreeing it was the best Floodlights gig we’d seen.
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