Live Review: Andrew McMahon, Mike Waters

It's a Saturday night in Sydney and even for a show headlined by a punk rock pianist, the crowd is exceptionally rowdy as the sold-out venue slowly files in for a concert to be kicked off by indie acoustic singer Mike Waters.

The Melbourne guitarist puts in a solid set for the appreciative crowd who is supported on stage only by a mini scaffold. Waters genuinely looks like he's having a ball up there, even encouraging punters to sing along to his songs, mainly to provide the back-ups. He finishes with a nice touch, openly admitting to the now pretty full house that this is his biggest crowd to date, which gets a massive applause.

Roughly 15 minutes later, after a particular grand piano is positioned stage left, the lights go down and screams erupt as Andrew McMahon quickly makes his way on stage and jumps behind the piano to break into a track off his latest album, Rainy Girl, showcasing his incredibly strong vocals before he's joined on stage by his supporting band for his classic Jack's Mannequin track Dark Blue to really get the crowd moving. Fans of McMahon, Jack's Mannequin and Something Corporate will probably be familiar with how the frontman's live shows work, but it really is quite a spectacle. Working between two microphones (one sitting above his piano and one positioned so he's facing the audience) McMahon spends most of his time in a mid-squat position thrusting his head between the two microphones as if an invisible hand is constantly slapping his face, but his energy is undeniable. As he occasionally jumps up to move around the stage, shake some hands and bust some moves, fans are treated to tracks spanning his entire catalogue, including High Dive, The Mixed Tape, I Woke Up In A Car and a nice ten-minute breakdown for acoustic versions of 21 And Invincible and Swim. Some of these songs are over a decade old, but the charisma McMahon displays throughout gives the impression this are the first time the songs are getting a live run. Sadly there was no Konstantine, which McMahon knows the fans wanted and just didn't play for some reason, even though people incessantly shouted it out throughout the show. He eventually jokingly tells someone in the crowd that he will kill them if they kept asking — but with a set as strong as it was, it isn't the worst thing in the world.

Before closing out with Synesthesia, McMahon reminisces with fans about the feeling he got as a child when he played with giant parachutes, and to get the idea across, he literally brings out a giant parachute to launch into the crowd which moves around Factory Theatre like an over-sized beach ball as those in the crowd basically attempt to dance while holding up their end of the multi-coloured blanket. He promises to be back in the country very soon before heading off stage, and if this concert and his fans are anything to go by, he's gonna need a bigger room. Or a smaller parachute.