It’s been two long years since Dappled Cities’ last Australian headline tour that saw them performing to sold-out crowds in suits covered in fairy lights.
Nowadays, when the indie rock greats aren’t busy supporting legendary four piece Death Cab For Cutie on their recent Australian tour, they’ve been putting out their latest album Lake Air.
When it comes to their shows, the band has said that they consider “every element being thought out, and visual aesthetics complementing the music to perfection”, it’s no surprise then that the humble crowd at the Adelaide Unibar were excited for the night’s show.
The night started young, with math rock trio Sincerely, Grizzy, who have had a very busy recent few months touring with Brisbane’s The Medics and Melbourne’s I, A Man.
Unfortunately, their set was performed to few, and they didn’t seem too ecstatic to be there. Regardless, it was evident that their recent extensive tour had disciplined the trio into a tight band with a lack of any performance issues whatsoever.
All the way from Ireland were main openers Jape. With the majority of the crowd unaware of the nature of the act, they were cautious in filling the mighty gap between them and the electro rock duo.
Jape’s set was very simple: two guys with a couple of synthesizers, a mac, drum pad, and a guitar; all contributing to solid dance tracks that did, after a few songs, get the crowd moving.
A stage now packed with instruments for five men, with a coil full of luminescent lighting wrapped around the various microphone stands and instruments, set the stage for Dappled Cities.
After a simple intro and modest cheering, the indie rockers started with one of the most poppy songs off of their latest album Lake Air – “Work In The Mould”. While this didn’t necessarily turn the audience in a rave frenzy, it did maintain their interest.
Following this, they moved into a mix of tracks from various albums – “Holy Chord”, “The Leopard”, and “Fire Fire Fire”. With stage presence and playing skill that could only be achieved from a career as long as Dappled Cities’.
Fan favourite and latest single “Born At The Right Time” was a sure fire crowd sing-a-long, and it made sure that the only thing to follow was the utmost of crowd enjoyment.
With some unexpected songs that popped up in their setlist – namely “The Weekend” – two major favourites “The Price” and “Run With the Wind” were to follow. It seemed as though the cosy crowd were at their peak of enjoyment during these songs.
This was no surprise, as Dappled Cities made sure to make the most of their big finale – pristine playing, extended intros, and invites of crowd participation were brought on by the five-piece in order to make sure that everyone was fully satisfied with the end result of the night.
