When watching The Murder Capital last Friday night (4 April) at Brisbane's The Brightside, I spent the night with one constant thought in my mind – this is the last chance to experience this band in such an intimate setting.
Their music, spread over three studio albums, keeps getting stronger, and their catalogue contains some excellent music. The current tour supports the third album 'Blindness' (which was released in February).The quality of the music and their live performance almost guarantees that next time they'll play at much larger venues in front of larger audiences. I love both types of experience, but felt privileged to see them in a former small church.
The Dublin-based group's 'Blindness' is the source of much great music, including a couple of superb singles. The music tends to get categorised – if that is necessary – as post-punk. Influences such as Joy Division and The National (who delivered a great show 12 months ago in Brisbane) are apparent, and I occasionally get hints of Dinosaur Jr, another act who toured last year.
As The Murder Capital walked onstage to set up their instruments, it was immediately apparent that singer James McGovern carries himself with serious rockstar swagger. Dressed in the familiar tracksuit jacket, dark glasses, and a great hairstyle (his natural colour, with splotches of peroxide), he was giving off serious Oasis, Arctic Monkey vibes.
The Murder Capital - image © Yejin Cho
When they kicked off, they launched into one of the fantastic hits off the latest album, 'The Fall'. It really is a great song, and as with some of the other live versions I've seen on the internet, the guitar sounds much grittier than the studio version, and in a very positive way.
It really was an excellent song to kick off with, leaving the crowd in full voice and aware of the quality of show that lay ahead. 'Moonshot' followed, the five band members gelling perfectly in their individual roles, with drummer Diarmuid Brennan really standing out for the quality of his work.
With 'Death Of A Giant', guitarist Damien Tuit played a similar riff as the studio version, but it sounded more tinny, and again I thought it was reflective of them wanting to have a live product that is significantly set apart from their studio recordings.
The Murder Capital - image © Yejin Cho
The intro to 'Death Of A Giant' sounded more intricate in its live performance, and standing two-feet away from the guitarist, I could see how detailed the playing was, as Tuit constantly shifted between guitar and synthesiser, something which features heavily in their music.
Second guitarist Cathal Roper also constantly shifts between guitar and keyboard to bring more interest to their songs than would normally be possible for a five piece. As they moved into 'The Stars Will Leave Their Stage', McGovern was generating movement and noise from his tambourine, occasionally mimicking a rattlesnake in its sound.
The set continued through 'A Distant Life', before hitting what I think is the second highlight off the latest album, 'That Feeling'. It is such a simple song in its structure, and again we hear a much wilder version than the studio recording, particularly with McGovern's vocals as the song hit its crescendo.
In 'Feeling Fades', drummer Brennan was going wild, playing at an incredible pace and generating huge impact on his small kit. 'Slowdance I' followed, introduced by feedback and the keys, and as the piece culminated, the stage was bathed in red light, as all band members stood around the drum kit with only Brennan being lit in a standard manner. It added a huge impact to his great drumming.
The Murder Capital - image © Yejin Cho
'Swallow' is one of the songs on the latest album that many see as one of the record's highlights. I haven't held a similar view, although again the live version created a strong impact on me, with its very subtle guitar introduction, and the crowd clearly saw this as a highlight of the evening.
'Can't Pretend To Know' is probably the third choice – for me – off 'Blindness', and it was a great live with its heavy guitar introduction, along with guitarist Tuit alternating between glass slide guitar and his synthesiser.
After a couple of other songs, McGovern was engaging in hearty Irish patter with the crowd – noting that it's so far from home, and yet tonight this feels like home – and engaging in some jokes about bass player Gabriel Paschal Blake's birthday (he's short on underwear if anyone's looking to get him a present!).
The Murder Capital - image © Yejin Cho
'Ethel' didn't appear on the evening's set list, but it's probably the band's best known and loveliest songs. After a brief discussion onstage between McGovern and Tuit, the crowd is told "you owe me a tenner", and they launched into this great number.
McGovern talked very briefly of Palestine, a cause to which they have donated certain takings on the final song of the evening, 'Love Of Country'. It was a lovely piece to wind up on, and clearly caused some emotion during the performance, as McGovern just dropped his mic on the floor when he was finished singing.
The Murder Capital - image © Yejin Cho
Supporting The Murder Capital were two local bands, Swapmeet and Miss Mardy. Miss Mardy kicked off the evening with a 25-minute set, and lead singer Danny O'Rourke told the crowd he'd been a huge fan of The Murder Capital over recent years, so clearly this tour is a career highlight for the four piece.
He tells of his incredulity (in more fruity language) of sitting in on the earlier soundcheck for the Irish band, feeling they were not worthy of supporting them.
These guys probably sit in the post-punk genre, and talking to 19-year-old bassist Tom Doherty after the show, they're trying to kick off being frequently tagged as Arctic Monkeys in style.
The drummer was performing solidly, and had his shirt off after a few songs (for a funky rendition of 'Joe Pesci'), and I was advised after the set that tonight was his first gig with the boys, the other three having played together for three years of so. Overall, I thought they performed a great warm up set, and will clearly benefit and mature from having been onstage with their heroes.
Swapmeet, who hail from Adelaide, were slightly older than the Miss Mardy boys and accordingly somewhat more polished. They kicked off their set with 'Ceiling Fans', replete with shimmery guitars and weird feedback.
Swapmeet - image © Yejin Cho
As the song progressed the feedback tapered off, so it was clearly intended to be part of the music which built into a much heavier song as it continued. In 'Lucky' Jack Medlyn was playing guitar and singing for this lovely piece.
Vocals were shared by Medlyn and Venus O'Broin who were both showered in green light for their brand new song 'Sand', which kicked off with heavy bass before being joined by heavily distorted guitar. For 'Collision', drummer Maxwell Elphick and guitarist Medlyn had swapped roles, and I picked up influences of Pink Floyd in the song.
Musically the band was very tight, both before and after swapping instruments, and bassist Joshua Doherty cut a great figure onstage. The final song, 'I Wish I' sung by the O'Broin started very gently, with just guitar and vocals, before winding up as a very loud piece; it was a great song to wind up a strong set with.
Overall, I thought their act was great, containing some really interesting music. They were different from a lot of bands in that their songs don't follow a set pattern (verse, chorus, similar verse); their songwriting really mixes up their music and that's what made it interesting and very enjoyable.
This was probably the best show I have seen so far in 2025, and The Murder Capital will get much bigger over time, as they move to a large European tour, followed by the US. Next time, I expect to see them in a much larger venue in front of a larger, sold-out crowd.
For tonight, it was a chance to revel in the experience of seeing such a high-quality act in a very intimate setting at close quarters.
More photos from the concert.
