A string of neon lights pulsate enchantingly from the stage ceiling at Sydney's Enmore Theatre (2 June).
Somewhat akin to a modern-day disco ball, tonight they’re dancing to the sweet pop beats of Fremantle band San Cisco alongside a crowd of glittered faces, short shorts and all them festival feels. It’s a Friday night and everyone is ready to let their hair down and put their kicks through their paces.
Opener Thelma Plum and her beautifully rich folk pop numbers do an impeccable job at warming up this crowd. Her charisma as well as her golden-balloon lettering, which spans almost the length of the stage, shines brightly reaching all the way into the dress circle of the Enmore Theatre preparing us for the main event. Indie pop.
Disco. Psychedelic pop. Garage-band pop. Whichever you choose to label them (if you must label them at all), perhaps the best word to sum up San Cisco’s style is 'cute'. It’s a term the four, strong Western Australians use on the night as they perform feel-good track after feel-good track off their latest record, 'The Water', as well as a few highlights from their back catalogue.
Starting rather chill, the band draws us in on the back of the groovy although slightly mellow ‘Did You Get What You Came Here For?’. It’s an odd introductory song, particularly as it hasn’t been released as a single yet. But it makes for an apt build-up to more cutesy, funked up releases ‘SloMo’ and ‘Magic’ and a choreography of lights that bounces between 'sweet backyard wedding' and 'cool garage band'.
But it’s not until we the hit psychedelic disco of title track 'The Water' when the crowd begins to surge, pushing the front barriers and pulling even the dress circle onto its feet.
There’s no need for encouragement, the punters already know the songs singing manically to stunners 'Hey Did I Do You Wrong', 'Fred Astaire', 'Kids Are Cool' and 'Too Much Time Together' as they tumble out one after another. Not that the band asks for any of it, aside from fragment-long song introductions and showing concern after a stage jumper kamikazes into the crowd. For the most part, they seem happy to get on with the job and have us groove along.
The encore is short, the fans already on the pulse anticipating more. Lead singer Jordi Davieson takes it solo with newie 'Waiting For The Weekend' with just a guitar and a voice to hush the thousands. This before the band reassembles for the addictive 'Sunrise' and one last, hair whipping, foot-stomping classic... 'Run'.
As the stage lights dim and the audience ambles out, I look down to notice more than a few socked feet stumbling home. And I can't help but smile and think: 'Well, if you haven't worn your dance shoes out tonight you clearly are not doing it right.'
