So here we are. Australia’s next Coldplay with England’s next Coldplay and not a single song about the colour yellow between them.
Watch closely. Because it’s not likely you’ll be seeing such obvious, raw talent squeezed into a club the size of 77 ever again.
Brisbane’s Speedstar* (mind the asterix) have a lot of pressure on their young shoulders, and judging by the indie lather on their music, probably the weight of the world on their shoulders, too.
But it’s refreshing in a time that young Australian bands are cranking pseudo-American hard rock to the max that there are still musicians like this lurking in the shadows.
Falling Star is gorgeous, while Triple J favourite Higher is souring, ambitious and anguished all in one.
For all their UK sensibilities, it’s surprising and refreshing that country music darling Kasey Chambers should materialize for a duet with lead singer Alister Bell - giving the set a momentary sweet country tinge while still delivering with it the added forward intensity that is quickly becoming the live Speedstar* signature.
All the while, to the side of the stage, the silhouette of Starsailor’s lead singer, James Walsh, can be seen jumping passionately on the spot and slamming it’s arms down on an imaginary guitar as if matching the music note for fervid note.
As we soon find out, ‘passionate’ is an offensively inadequate way to describe the lead singer of Starsailor.
And the only way they can be compared to Coldplay is by the fact that there are four of them.
Walsh’s crisp vocals (having been lumped with the ‘young Neil Young’ and ‘Jeff Buckley incarnate’ tag) are unlike any of his demonstrative indie contemporaries – fragile elevated notes hit with such precision and potency that the 77 sound system threatens to buckle under the pressure of supporting such rampant consuming melodies.
Their two singles – Fever sounding even more emotional and achingly honest live, Good Souls more fiery, over-ridden by the bass of James Stelfox and Walsh’s electric guitar – are matched with the more sombre offerings, like Love Is Here and keyboardist Barry Westhead’s jaunty piano notes of Lullaby.
But then they bring out a cover of Van Morrison’s Way Young Lovers Do and "our rock song", Poor Misguided Fool - with its Elastica inspired bass line and heady beats from drummer Ben Byrne, and you see that what Starsailor do best, for all their hype as the new saviours of sensitive young souls everywhere, is just play music – the key being that they mean it, and their hearts play along too.
It’s just been that kind of night.
The kind where – whisper it – it would have been okay to cry if you’d felt the need.
A lovely slice of Britain hidden underneath the rubble of pseudo America – thank goodness for the Good Souls, eh?
Alicia Broderson - redbackrock.com
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