Live Review: Lucius, Batts

Accompanying herself on guitar tonight instead of fronting her usual full-band incarnation, Batts (aka Tanya Batt) admits she's never played on a Sunday before. Little White Lies is an early highlight and Batt tells us she's a big fan of Lucius, adding that when she got the email about this support slot she was like, "What the fuck?" in disbelief. Introducing "another sad song", Somedays, Batt promises she has one "kinda happy song" in her repertoire. Batt then tells us she recently penned a new song, which she introduces as Not Your Lover Nor My Friend, after waking up with a melody in her head somewhat like Paul McCartney often claims but she never believed. Batt then closes with For Now, which she informs us is about dating a musician, before adding, "He's here, damnit!" It's a forlorn number about waiting at home for her muso boyf ("Baby, won't you come on home to me"). Although she's critical of her own banter, we find Batts as endearing as she is talented.  

Lucius have a killer aesthetic. The male band members all sport black jackets featuring planets and scattered diamantes, even wearing matching black shoes - the exact same style. The two female members - Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig - wear black fringed capes with colourful intricate stitching detail and intergalactic lining, over matching dresses, black opaque tights and boots, and their platinum-blonde bobs and glittery blue, winged eye makeup top off their striking signature look. All five members of the band sing wonderfully, but of course the focus is on Wolfe and Laessig, who face each other to sing those flawless harmonies into a vintage mic on stand while swaying in unison.  

Drummer Dan Molad utilises a simple drum kit comprising just two drums and two cymbals, often drumming with the butts of sticks. The pair of lead singers launch into Something About You with flamenco-style stamps and clapping patterns and their poppy track Almost Makes Me Wish For Rain gets us dancing even in this synth-less band incarnation. We're presented with a brand new,  stripped-back track during which Molad switches to bass after which a punter releases an ecstatic, "Wow!" of approval. "I'm so nervous I don't know why!" Wolfe admits, acknowledging this seems ridiculous given that they girls have been performing in massive-capacity arenas around the country as backing vocalists/percussionists with the Roger Waters Us + Them tour. She then jokes one of their touring guitarists Yay Blynn was given the new nickname of "Mr Fluffy" by a fan in Brisbane due to his hairdo. Lucius' cover of Tame Impala's Eventually breathes a new identity into the original while carefully guarding the ever-present yearning of the original version.   

After Laessig admits Melbourne is their favourite city in Australia, Wolfe tells us they visited Yarra Park Bend to look at bats sleeping during the day when they were in town last week. Pointing out the significance of Batts as tonight's support slot, Wolfe then hilariously describes the Yarra Park Bend bats as resembling "chihuahuas in leather jackets". The vocal breakdown during Dusty Trails inspires enthusiastic whoops and it couldn't possibly get any better than this. Or could it? Two Of Us On The Run is as captivating as a gripping short film and we can't draw our eyes away from the stage. Every movement is perfectly choreographed to benefit vocal dynamics and the duo back away slowly from the microphone, in perfect unison, as their voices fade out organically to conclude the main set.

An encore is demanded and, after their band leave the stage to much applause, the two main voices of Lucius sing one final song for us a cappella. The "lullaby" they leave us with is A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (from Cinderella) and we legitimately feel like we're in the presence of angels. Post-show, a long-time American fan in the front row marvels at the intimacy of this gig, having last experienced Lucius playing a massive amphitheatre back home. Another fan from this band's homeland who is currently residing in Townsville explains that she flew down to Melbourne specifically for this gig. This is one of those truly special, 'I was there when…' gig moments.