Live Review: British India, Grenadiers, Tired Lion

You’d think Tired Lion would be buoyed by the announcement of their tour in the lead-up to their first EP release, or the widely-lauded mash-up of Violent Soho and Smashing Pumpkins that they’d done that morning for triple j’s Like a Version.

It didn’t show. ‘Chill’ is the operative word here. Sophie Hopes, all sass with her T-shirt tucked in to her high pants, is in full control, teasing the small but keen crowd along with her relaxed line of questioning. We’re asked “What do you guys want to hear?” followed by something along the lines of “Maybe, we’ll see.” 

Desperate makes an appearance, as does Are You Listening… Listener? But the biggest reaction is reserved for I Don’t Think You Like Me, the band’s big-hitting new single inviting an audience singalong and seeing them out with a bang. 

Grenadiers made themselves known somewhat differently, less talk more shout. These guys have a really raw energy onstage. There’s no pretence here, just three blokes who seem kinda mad about something giving it all they’ve got. Interaction is limited, but theatrics aren’t needed when the volume is this loud. 

New stuff from their recently dropped album, Summer, including that album’s namesake, gets a play in what seems to be a short set. This is less down to the lack of material and more to do with the rapid pace these guys seem to be chugging through it. 

Considering the audience here tonight though, you’re left wondering whether the order of proceedings might have been better served by a slight shuffle-up with Grenadiers appearing first. Tired Lion has been getting a lot of airtime of late, and their easily digestible vibes may have hit it off better with what would appear to be a populist audience (growing by the second) here in the middle of Sydney on a Friday night. 

That said, regardless of order, the two acts provide the perfect introduction to British India, whose act appears to traverse the territory between the two sounds. There’s plenty of older stuff crammed in with the new, to remind us all how far the band’s sound has transitioned over the course of five albums. 

New material from latest album, Nothing Touches Me, gets the crowd singing along, Blame It All On Me, Nothing Touches Me and Suddenly (in particular, that punky whine from Declan Melia really gets people going) all eliciting a murmur of chorus lyrics from the swaying audience. The energy really takes a step up for a cover of Blink 182’s Dammit, helped out by Grenadiers frontman Jesse Coulter, and rightly so, it’s bloody fantastic. 

But save for a few attempts at crowd-surfing and one woman casually batting down some sleaze’s attempt to pull down her top, the crowd is pretty restrained. Perhaps it’s something to do with the Metro Theatre, but even this material seems slightly muted here. There’s an awareness that we need to see British India in their heartland (a pub somewhere in Melbourne’s suburbs) to experience these guys at their purest. 

That’s not an indictment on tonight’s performance by any measure, more an observation that as big-time as they now are, their roots are firmly intact. As if this needed confirming, the encore (which follows a cameo appearance by an ironing-board-toting Sophie Hopes, who’s quickly ushered off stage) consists of Council Flat, from all the way back in 2007, before Declan holds up his drink and says “Thanks for hanging out with us.”