TAME IMPALA SOUND SYSTEM @ Metro City
Pictured: Nick Allbrook, Jay Watson + Dominic Simper - TAME IMPALA
Photographer: Sheldon Ang - Sheldon Ang Photography
Live @ Metro City - Perth, WA - Saturday 6 March 2021
Written by: Sheldon Ang - Sense Music Media
So...what is TAME IMPALA Sound System?
Pictured: Kevin Parker - TAME IMPALA
Photographer: Sheldon Ang - Sheldon Ang Photography
Kevin Parker, the lead vocalist and the dream weaver of TAME IMPALA describes on Twitter — “it’s about Wielding their overflowing arsenal of synths, sequencers and samplers to rework and reimagine tracks from the Tame Impala discography and beyond, Tame Impala Sound System is a pulsating, fully live and organic, free-flowing digital jam out.”
Hence, it is TAME IMPALA – considered by Rolling Stone as one of the best music acts out of Australia – minus the guitars, bass and drums. So when Parker - flanked by members Jay Watson and Dominic Simper on synthetiser and keyboard - took centre stage for the live world debut at Metro City in Perth Western Australia, the fans finally got to rekindle their sonic love for Kevin and Co, albeit an after taste of a different kind.
By the time Parker graced the stage and bowed to the crowd, the revellers were already enticed and stimulated in every conceivable manner, thanks to the foreplay teased by Nick Allbrook under the cover of POND DJ. Moving like Jagger and fused by the on stage persona of Jim Morrison, Allbrook was the epitome of a classic rock front man with his on-stage shenanigans and demeanour, charming his way to the hearts of the crowd, where the support act became the main act in some ways.
Pictured: Nick Allbrook giving the crowd a piece of the action
Photographer: Sheldon Ang - Sheldon Ang Photography
The set by TISS (as the author calls it) was sparked by Apocalypse Dreams, perhaps a fitting allegory representing the devastation the world had to endure in 2020 and perhaps for most of 2021, affecting their Australian tour that was twice rescheduled. Tonight’s was also a celebration of Western Australia’s accomplishment for being largely unaffected by the you know what virus, and also the extolment of Tame Impala’s unbridled sweep at the 2020 ARIA, taking home five awards including Album of the Year for the latest seminal piece, The Slow Rush.
Just as they were performed at TISS’ virtual world debut showcased to the world in NPR Tiny Desk Concert Series, Breath Deeper and Is It True from the latest album were part of the 19-song set list. One of the crowd’s favourite had to be the AC/DC’s cover of Thunderstruck, a 60-second pure blitz for the more matured fans, making this hit the biggest karaoke moment on the planet for some time, which followed by the mellifluous transition into the pivotal track Let It Happen compounded with a NYE vibe, serenading the 1500 revellers cum back up singers with confetti through the green hues and lasers darting across the mega club.
Tonight event that was part of the so called SNACK Weekender was not just a showcase of the sound system of Tame Impala behind the DJ set and mic, but it also shined the pluralistic matrix of Parker’s artistic boundaries, who seemed to be a master historian of the sounds of the 90’s and prior, while propagating the sonic embellishments of his eclectic and eccentric repertoire into the hearts of the young impalas of Perth.