I have to admit, The Cat Empire is one band which somewhat passed me by, which is odd given my love of Australian music.
However, they were sensational at The Fortitude Music Hall (22 September), as were support acts Coterie and Steph Strings.What stood out was a great energy, a very positive and happy vibe, a group of core, longer-term fans along with enthusiastic new listeners, and great music.
The night kicked off with Steph Strings, a young performer who cranked out a huge sound from her acoustic guitar. Highlight from the set for me was 'Back At Me', although the set was a great warm up act for what lay ahead.
Coterie followed, and by their own admission, they didn't expect any of the crowd to know who they were. . . that was about to change. The four brothers (born in New Zealand and raised in Perth) put on a great show, with a ska theme running through much of their work.
The first song about their home state kicked things off on a high, and they moved through a couple of songs into their newest piece, 'Summer Again', which they played live for only the third time. Again, I took a real ska influence from the song.
There was also a reggae feel, with a switch into 'Dreadlock Holiday' (10cc), their cover of Sir Dave Dobbin's 'Slice Of Heaven', and 'Could You Be Loved' (the great Bob Marley song). Overall I loved both acts.
The Cat Empire - image © Bill Prendergast
So, to The Cat Empire. They really were brilliant, from their highly unusual percussion-driven entrance through the crowd from the back of the hall, right through the entire two-hour set.
They are celebrating 20 years as a band, although this is a new iteration of the group. They started with a couple of older songs ('Boom Boom' and 'In My Pocket'), which were enthusiastically supported by the crowd, then moved into a few from their excellent 2023 album, 'Where The Angels Fall'.
As the band played these earlier songs, I picked up an influence of The Doors, presumably a favourite of keyboardist Ollie McGill, one of the band's founding members.
The Cat Empire - image © Bill Prendergast
The band played though a few other crowd favourites, notably 'A Buena Vista' which reflected the strong influence of Cuban band member Lazaro Numa who played some great trumpet work, but flowed into percussion at times.
A favourite instrument of mine, the trombone, featured, and my view that there really is no bad song with a trombone solo was again proven right. 'Two Shoes' was a huge hit with the crowd, followed by 'Owl' off the new album. A few more hits, then it was onto what I thought was the highlight of the night, 'Still Young', off 2013's 'Steal The Light'.
Coming back for their encore, they drifted in via 'Still Young', and followed up with perhaps their best known song, 'Hello'. This featured some very funky keyboard by Ollie.
The Cat Empire - image © Bill Prendergast
The band moved into a couple of covers, ('La Bamba' and 'Twist And Shout'), then Steph Strings came on to play one final song with the band.
Founder, singer, guitarist and percussionist, Felix Riebl noted that to be playing together again is like survival. This band is deservedly playing a global tour, across Europe, and the Americas, with two great support acts, and the appeal of the music to a non-Australian crowd – as well as the home crowd – is very apparent (singing in at least three languages during the evening).
Overall, a fantastic show to a very appreciative fan base, and for me a greater appreciation of what The Cat Empire has written and achieved. Their love of music and playing together as a group was made abundantly clear.
