MUSIC
Belle and Sebastian ★★★★
Palais Theater, August 23

To attend a Belle and Sebastian concert is to step back in time. It’s the late ’90s or early 2000s, and while you’re searching for something to love in bookstores and libraries, you see an album that looks nice and you take it home. You pop it in the CD player and let the warmth flow out, that streaky sunlight sound adding color to your monochromatic life.

The Scottish band’s earnest, bookish indie pop, often labelled with affection or mockery, captures a time and place. This is evident in their Melbourne audience, all stripes, berets and cardigans. But life has happened too: many have their children with them, hoping to pass on the magic.

Belle and Sebastian have been together for almost thirty years and are among the biggest indie artists in the world: they still release music, but certain albums will always leave a lasting impression on them and their fans.

It’s a blessing and a curse, but so is growing up. The precious naivety of some of the group’s earliest songs is now lost in their polished performances, but the joy remains palpable. The band, which blossoms into a nine-piece live set, including a few local musicians, is – led by the affable, chatty Stuart Murdoch – a well-oiled machine, if occasionally chaotic. Unlike many touring bands, they don’t have a standard setlist – every night is different, and anything can happen.

Tonight the sound mix is ​​muddled and drowns out some of the band’s intricacies – their lineup consists of horns, brass, strings and vocal harmonies. Newer songs like So in the moment And Reclaim the night (sung by the endearingly chaotic Stevie Jackson and the sweet-voiced Sarah Martin respectively) are bombastic, as are the often superfluous background projections.

It’s fun enough, but the audience largely sits still and passive until one of those classic numbers comes on, Get me out of here, I’m dyingmakes sure everyone gets up at the same time.

From there on things get going, with all the old hallmarks: the band invites the audience to dance on stage. The boy with the Arabian beltMurdoch struts the aisles during Stay loose. Reworkings of decades-old songs keep them feeling fresh – the acoustic Piazza, New York Catcher gets a lavish makeover, and Sleep around the clocksubtle on record, gets a jolt of electric energy. It feels both old and new, like opening a dusty book that you forgot you wrote your name in, and remembering what was in it all along.
Reviewed by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen