There is no feeling more (ironically) comfortable and safe than travelling to a gig on a cold winter-like night in Melbourne/Naarm. While summer life is obviously preferable to a lot of people, there is something about this city in winter that partners so well with live music that the cold and struggle almost enhances the overall experience. Maybe it’s the warmth of the venues that invite punters in to collectively get warm and enjoy or the live music. Or maybe it’s just that after year of no live music we are happy to take advantage of any night out regardless of weather. Either way being able to be in this familiar environment really returned a sense of normalcy after such a paradigm shifting event.
To say we at Couchdog Collective are big fans of 30/70 would be a huge understatement. Seeing them for the first time at the Strawberry Fields Festival in 2018 was one of the finest live sets we had ever seen. While we were fans of theirs beforehand, that live set pushed our fandom even further and made them a go to artist that we would suggest friends to listen to or also see in person. Three years later and it was finally time for round 2. It seemed quite crazy that it took us this long to see them again. Despite seeing the members of the band quite often perform solo or in other projects (Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange, Allysha Joy) the planets never seemed to align for us to try relive our Strawberry Fields experience. On the 13th of May 2021 we would be able to soak in off of the Neo – Soul goodness of one of our absolute favourites.
Here is a live video of 30/70 from the Corner Hotel in 2019. Filmed by our good friend Nathaniel (aka Oldmate788) Go check out our write up of him here.
This residency that the band are having at The Evelyn this month seem to be a match made in heaven. One of the Northsides best venues ‘reopening’ with one of the cities greatest bands is a paring that could only ever be great. (In the business world I believe they call this synergy). Stepping into The Evelyn’s Band room and hearing the DJ mix in a nice blend of house and Jazz was a wonderful way to kick off the evening’s proceedings. The dark lighting (or I guess lack of lighting) set the mood perfectly and seemed to replicate the feeling of being inside a high-end jazz bar. The night took a very atmospheric turn once the nights support started playing. Mindy Meng Wang opened proceedings with a breathtaking display of ambient music with her Guzheng. Being an instrument that isn’t so commonly seen within the context of the prototypical Melbourne Gig, it gave the audience a truly unique set. Almost cinematic in the sonic output, Mindy’s offerings were a brilliant way to open the evening. Typically, with a support act their job can be to warm the crowd up, give them something to ease themselves into. It was refreshing to see an artist that was given the platform to challenge the audience and give them a set they may not be totally familiar with.
Despite The Evelyn being a decently sized venue the atmosphere during the headline act felt extremely intimate. A perfect setting for the sound that 30/70 offers, the set that the huddled together crowd received was nothing less than incredible. The bands playing was proficient and amazingly tight. Not a note was wasted the whole time. The crowd moving in unison as we were treated to tracks that spanned throughout their catalogue. 2019’s Fluid Motion was perhaps Couchdog’s favourite release of the year. Imaginings what hearing these songs live have been a constant and not only did they not disappoint they actually enhanced our perception of them. A lot of quarantine was spent bopping along to the odd timed beat of Tempted, being able to do it in person surrounded by people in close proximity still seemed a bit surreal. From 2018, through a pandemic, all the way to 2021. The wait in between seeing our Neo-Soul favourites may have been long and arduous but it was definitely worth it.
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