Photo by Jontee Langton
In the past, Couchdog family have concluded that Friday nights are the best times of the week to treat yourself to a gig; the sense of community and care-free attitude that your local gig delivers is the perfect way to unwind and call the end to another work week.
So, on that note, the 16th of June was no exception. This Friday evening; my fellow punters, my mates and myself found ourselves at the Espys historically-seeped Gershwin Bandroom, preparing ourselves for the first-ever iteration of Franjafest.
With six separate bands filling in the hours of 7pm to 1am, this night served as one massive going-away party before the headline act, Franjapan, set sail for their international tour. The entire night seemed to perfectly encapsulate the sense of camaraderie and communality that our city’s local music scene has to offer. There was no separation between the audience and the bands, everyone was just happy to see everyone else and to dance and sing side-by-side.And that felt great.
So, with a cold pint in hand, we stood within the carved roofs and stone walls of this ballroom turned gig hub and embraced a night filled to the brim with good people and good tunes.
The gritty yet upbeat performance of Pop-Punkers Pretty Bleak served as the perfect icebreaker to set the night into motion. The band’s lively stage presence and tonal balance of cheeriness and edginess had new arrivals dancing their way through the door and right to the front stage.
The second act of the night was the brother duo of Mother Culture. While backed by the Franjapan band members, the Ward Brothers treated us to an abundance of untamed and wild performances that spread throughout the room like wildfire. Darcy Ward’s a born showman; on tracks such as the piano-rock-ballad of “The Girl With The Doja Cat Tattoo”, Darcy’s vigorous, heart-on-sleeve vocals were accentuated by his intense and animated stage presence. If he wasn’t rocking out on the Gershwin stage, he’d be caught jumping into the crowd as his unlimited stamina seemed to be fuelled by the energy of the overjoyed punters surrounding him.
With a detachment of overarching basslines, synth-soaked choruses and celestial vocals at their disposal; the alt pop duo of Floozy swiftly transformed the Gerswhin band room into their very own cosmos. The intertwining of Dre and Leigh’s vocals created these immensely ethereal and hypnotic harmonies that would circle around your ears and hold you in place.
As a jazzy set up of piano riffs, synths and saxophones weaved with tender, heart-filled vocals, the setlist of Indie folk artist Holly Hebe and her entourage resulted in a varied crowd of headbangers and slow-dancers grooving side by side. Yet, what I feel was the unanimous highlight of Hebe’s setlist was the unexpected yet very welcomed rendition of the Shrek 2 classic, “Accidentally In Love”. The performance felt like a revelation, you could tell that everyone in the crowd didn’t realise how badly they needed this . Hebe’s funky yet melancholic style on this nostalgia-heavy cover track seemed to hit everyone at their core; giddy smiles ran rampant throughout the room and It was hard to find someone who wasn’t singing “WHAT'S THE PROBLEM BABY'' at the top of their lungs.
When Franjapan hopped on stage, their appearance alone instantly sent the anticipated crowd into a rowdy frenzy of cheers. And It wasn't long until I understood what all the hype was about. The five-piece performed relentlessly under flashing beams of light as punchy guitars, rapid drums and lead singer Rhys’ infectious melodies all worked together to create one of those perfect Friday night experiences where all of your week’s grievances are flushed out from your brain and replaced with pure adrenaline and joy.
We had crossed over to the early hours of the next day by the time that Franjapan left the stage.
So, before this massive night of great tunes and great people came to an official end, we were delivered one final package of high-energy and sweet jams in the form of DJ producer Tough Break, whose inventory of dirty tech house beats that shook the floor closed the curtains of this first ever iteration of FranjaFest.
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