Glenn Richards & Bridezilla - The Metro Theatre (12th November)

Fresh from the release of his anticipated solo record Glimjack, Augie March front-man Glenn Richards arrived at the Metro Theatre for a night of his inspired solo work with support by Bridezilla and The Honey Month.

It was always going to be hard to know what to expect of Glenn Richards’ move into solo territory. After gathering praise fronting Melbourne’s Augie March for almost fifteen years prior to their abrupt hiatus in late 2009, he stepped out to release Glimjack; a dark solo outing channeling the sounds of Augie March with a band of new faces that he will temporarily call his own. With a band of the clout that Augie March carry, you’d expect the appearance of Glenn Richards’ first solo show in Sydney to garner a pretty intense interest. In fact, you’d even book a theatre able to hold 1,500 and expect to come close to filling it, but as with Glimjack and almost every move Augie March have made to date, I think we’ve all learned by now to expect the unexpected.

At 8:30PM the Metro Theatre’s crowd was looking unexpectedly sparse. A black curtain draped across the centre of the bleachers to draw attention away from the size of the venue seemed to do just the opposite; announcing to those present that they were among the few who got hands on tickets to what was to be a unique slice of Australian music. So when Brisbane’s The Honey Month (named after an Augie March track of the same name) came on stage to open to so few, you could forgive them if they lacked some enthusiasm after a special interstate trip for this one-off support slot…but of course, we’re still riding the expect the unexpected tagline.

The Honey Month wasted no time in lifting the speckled crowd’s eyebrows. They played a blistering opening set featuring a plethora of instrumentation from toy pianos and synths to ukuleles, mandolins and a double bass ridden by an extremely enthusiastic jockey. They put together an almost perfect support set; nobody knew who they were and probably nobody cared, but by set’s end, more than a few were asking their name with polite whispers. With their minor hit 'Foliage' finishing off an impeccably tight playlist, The Honey Month had impressed with their rollicking string-based indie-folk that was equally as impressive as the crowd was diminished.

The jump from The Honey Month to Sydney’s underground darlings Bridezilla was an unusually broad one. Where The Honey Month were light-hearted and rollicking, Bridezilla were dark and exotic. While the hands behind their electric guitars are in no way virtuosic, they are more than capable of putting together eerily apt runs and progressions, all building an atmospheric rhythm section to back the fore. Alongside the gravelly moans of Holly Sidewinder’s vocal, it's that very fore of the saxophone and violin that are the absolute heart of this band. With the writhing Daisy Tulley behind her violin and Millie Hall’s swaying hips backing her sax, it’s hard not to appreciate the sensuality which lies underneath everything Bridezilla do, and while you’re rarely completely sold by the band, you are occasionally struck dumb by them; which is certainly a feat that any artist would be well placed in aspiring to achieve.

Despite a growing crowd, The Metro was still half-full by this point, or as Glenn Richards received it, unquestionably half-empty. He arrived stone faced to a rapturous reception and launched straight into the material from the album this tour was made to support. Just as Augie March were, the solo material played with the support of members from The Drones and Ned Collette’s Wirewalker was unusual, at times dark and uniquely that of Glenn Richards. Indeed, he is most definitely at his best when he delves into his darker moments on songs like 'Unflappable Man' and 'Glimjack Muttering' than he is on the lighter numbers (musically, not thematically) like 'Torpor and Spleen,' which seems to progress at too fast a pace for the very torpor its themes suggest. 

With Dan Luscombe’s lead guitar work and Richards’ own uniquely wavering croons the highlights of the evening, the band did justice to the subject matter, albeit through some disjointed and incongruous moments that were difficult to place as either an issue of a young tour or an intentional oddity in songwriting. Yet, at other times, the band produced songs that were absolutely transfixing in all their resplendent storytelling beauty. As far as expecting the unexpected was concerned, everything was so inconsistent that you never had a moment to pause to consider what it was that you were waiting for, and therein lay the uniquely interesting part of this night of music. This was clearly an Augie March sound taken in a subtly different direction (that ethereal voice of Glenn Richards is unmistakable) but the lack of confidence which so plagued Augie March into their demise seems to be just as present in the Glenn Richards live show. His laconically witty stage banter crossed the themes of his stories before just as quickly devolving into an self-deprecating recognition of the band's ability to "shrink audiences across the country." Soon after, Richards would refer to the show as a set of “dead songs” before promising to return with something better rehearsed on a future tour. Meanwhile though, nobody was complaining...just standing in slight confusion waiting for another song.

Richards returned for an encore earned by a vocal audience punching well above their collective weight to which he played one of Augie March’s most hauntingly poetic songs in 'The Slant'. With the Metro standing dumbstruck for its duration and roaring its approval at its end, Richards reacted despondently, seemingly disappointed that his biggest reaction came from something he’s no longer selling. Of course, he wouldn’t be the first recently solo singer-songwriter to happen across that phenomenon. Finishing off with a couple more treats from the solo record and The Metro was left satisfied and slightly confused by what it just witnessed. After all, it had just seen a hawker of musical wares claim that a good night of his music was somehow tarnished, which is a very difficult thing for all the Augie March fans in attendance to react to.

Despite the maligned moments on the night, you can’t help but address the feeling that a full house would have seen a significantly more incredible show once the disappointment was stripped away from the man of the hour. The songs from Glimjack are as good as anything that Richards ever put together with Augie March and in some cases, are marked improvements. Yet, in these early live performances, they seem to be hit and miss affairs in need of some kind of re-working. With the abilities of the band and Glenn Richards himself though, it’s possible to justify most of the marred ventures as being resultant of poor rehearsals and a downcast reaction to a downcast turn-out. What you can say without any shadow of a doubt though, is that Glenn Richards is one of our most interesting songwriting talents; a man with a poetic brilliance and a knack for a dark and unusual sound that will always have a place on the Australian touring calendar.  It’s just a shame that he hasn’t quite found exactly who, what or with whom he wants to be.