At the tail end of a mammoth international touring schedule, Yard Act brought their 'Where's My Utopia?' album tour to Melbourne on Wednesday (13 November).
As the Victorian weather begins to warm up, so too do the international tours coming through. It's going to be an exciting summer with many buzz-worthy artists coming to Australia. Yard Act is one act that shines brightly amongst them, who previously toured Australia as a fresh new band with only 2022's 'The Overload' to their name in early 2023 which included a slot on Laneway Festival.
Though only a short time between visits, this time without any festival appearances, they feel a lot more established, having endured a relentless touring schedule. Yard Act have also been very busy in that time.
Only released at the beginning of this year, 'Where's My Utopia?' has been a very well received album; especially lead singles 'We Make Hits' and 'Dream Job'. A packed out Croxton Bandroom proves this point.
Bones and Jones have been called on as the local support band. Having released a steady stream of music for the past couple of years, Bones and Jones drew on some deeper cuts from previous albums and made sure to give recent singles, such as 'Tighter' and 'Only One I Want', a play.
Bones and Jones bring a relaxed yet vitalised energy for those who made it down early. A mix of jangle and boogie, sharing vocals and instruments. There's a brilliant synergy among the band members that you can't help but smile when watching Bones and Jones play together.
When the interval music shifts from Neil Young's 'Harvest Moon' into Beastie Boys' 'No Sleep Till Brooklyn', the lights come up and the music gets louder as Yard Act makes their way onstage. It feels triumphant and there is an exciting, anticipatory buzz among the crowd.
Frontman James Smith comes out sneering at the crowd, tapping into the age old rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne framing it around which city is better at partying, and continuing to run with this banter between songs. Bursting into 'Dark Days' first up, the crowd was eager and lapping up everything that Yard Act threw at them.
The band has expanded since the last time they toured, now with a synth/ saxophone player and some really fun back-up singers/ dancers. This makes sense with how sonically adventurous 'Where Is My Utopia?' is.
Seeing them embrace and then turn the tropes of the post-punk genre on its head is impressive. Also, to witness it brought into the live setting really emphasises what a masterpiece this latest album is. The back-up singers come to the fore early with 'When The Laughter Stops'.
There was equal love for both albums, as they flicked between songs from 'The Undertow' and 'Where Is My Utopia?'. As you would expect, the more well-known cuts from both albums were celebrated by the crowd with big cheers for songs such as 'Dream Job', 'Fixer Upper' and 'We Make Hits'. With many dedicated fans in attendance, there was also an appreciation and excitement for the deeper cuts.
Throughout there were jammed-out versions of songs; 'Rich' and non-album single 'The Trench Coat Museum' were good examples of this. The extended wild jams with the back-up dancers bringing an unbridled energy.
'Rich' followed by 'Down By The Stream', it was here things got emotionally dark and introspective. The lights went down and the darkened stage with a wailing sax and spoken word amplified this.
The much loved '100% Endurance', a nihilistic ballad, capped off the set, with crowd sing-along of "it's all so pointless". The band went off stage then came back and cracked out a cover of Eddy Current Suppression Ring's 'Which Way To Go', showcasing their own appreciation of Australian music. It was lapped up by the crowd and a perfect way to show the mutual love between band and crowd.
There's a self-aware sense of irony that runs throughout Yard Act's music that really becomes obvious when seeing them live. Making fun of the music industry that they're a part of in the lyrics and banter, they caricature the bravado of rock bands. Despite this, or perhaps because of this, they really do rock out.
