Ball Park Music collectively blew the minds of their adoring Adelaide fans with a monumental show at Hindley Street Music Hall.
After initially been drawn to this concert by openers The Buoys – fresh off a blinding support slot in Melbourne this July opening for IDLES – one must admit a complete lack of prior awareness of headliner Ball Park Music's existence and repertoire, much to my chagrin.This was quickly rectified by way of the act's blazing performance, captivating stage presence and near-flawless set list.
Local act Sunsick Daisy initiated the evening with a set of short, but carefully considered tunes wearing a lo-fi sensibility on their sleeves.
Delivering some memorable lead guitar lines allowed the band to capture the attention of the already strong crowd, none more so than on song 'I'm Coming Home'.
Sunsick Daisy - image © Mike Lockheart
Next up was an act who would set the bar impossibly high for the headline act – The Buoys.
Evidently gleeful, based on the expressions itched permanently across the faces of the Sydney-based punk band's four members, they found eye contact between themselves, revelling in the moment and uproarious response from the audience before, during and after every track in their 11-song set.
Backed by deeply catchy vocal melodies and chunky riffs that hooked you like a fishing line, The Buoys floated through anthemic punk-rock numbers instilled with a deep sense of pop accessibility.
Huge choruses like those in 'Bad Habit' and 'Red Flags' had even the most stoic spectators singing along come the final bars, and indeed many in attendance had clearly taken the words of singer-guitarist Zoe Catterall to heart having memorised and emphatically sang along to each and every one of them on the night.
The Buoys - image © Mike Lockheart
That being said, their punk credentials certainly shine through in moments of pure chaotic brilliance, like on 'BDSM' (here standing for 'Bring Down Scott Morrison') which was performed with a dissonant and abrasive character like their very best post-punk oriented contemporaries.
Catterall's remarkably sustained, bellowing voice may be their defining factor and one would hope one day leads The Buoys to cut through the competition and break into the big time, along with a catalogue of tracks consistently anthemic and endlessly inspiring.
The tense anticipation for headliner Ball Park Music taking the stage was palpable.
As would become evident the instant the band, led by charismatic frontman Sam Cromack launched into 'Hands Off My Body', Ball Park Music's output has clearly instilled a powerful jubilation with their audience – who, much like the band's own studious mastery of musicianship, have been equally hard at work in learning the song lyrics, reciting them through and through, at times overpowering the amplified sound from the PA.
Ball Park Music - image © Mike Lockheart
The band's performance of 'Spark Up' was pulled off with all the pomp and ceremony of an arena rock band, featuring Cromack – posterior out, guitar posed at the hip ready – plodding across the stage.
That being said, there is a slight degree of mockery of tired-rock cliche in their performance and presentation at times, but when backed up with such versatile yet refined songwriting and rip-roaring amplification, definitely comes across as good humoured.
With 'get the f...ing nerds back on' scrawled onto drummer Daniel Hanson's kick drum skin, and ever so slightly self-depreciating lyrics, it's hard not to be enthralled and enamoured with such affable folks, especially when they deliver devastatingly powerful performances such as tonight.
Ball Park Music - image © Mike Lockheart
Tracks drawn from their 2020 album 'Cherub' rang out as highlights of the performance. 'I Feel Nothing' lyrically basks in a strange state of self-pity with its repetitive call back of the title, however ironically fitted into one of the band's more thrashy songs for wryly subtle comedic effect.
This effect is all the more amusing given Cromack's near perpetual sly grin throughout. This sat alongside the album's title track, which was accentuated live in a soft pink glow of back lighting.
The song's delicate lead vocal lines were at once intimate and intricate, accentuated with a heartwarming vocal harmony between the members.
More photos from the show.
