Live Review: Mildlife, Burundi Peace Choir

With a warm spirit and joyous demeanour, Burundi Peace Choir proved an uplifting, if unorthodox, support act for tonight's headliner.

The group are a little rough around the edges but what they lack in polish they certainly make up for with sheer spirit and energy. Consisting of refugee community members who fled the civil war in Burundi, it's difficult not to feed off their complete and total happiness. They had a strong familial link and the stage front crowd grew steadily as they warmed to the task and grew in confidence. Refreshingly, there was no pretence or submission to current trends here - it was a performance for the sake of connecting to history, culture and the community, and swept up everyone in its path.

Having played together for the better part of four years before releasing their debut album late in 2017, the groove of Melbourne quartet Mildlife is very well established. From the moment the first deep, heavy bass note was struck and then coalesced with the remainder of the band, it was patently obvious this is a group of prodigiously talented players who know each other's moves intimately. Tracks such as The Magnificent Moon from last year's brilliant Phase record were superbly reproduced, the warm, warbly synths of Kevin McDowell often a counterpoint to the precise bass and lead guitar of Tomas Shanahan and Adam Halliwell.

While cuts from that debut album were given some exposure, there were significantly extended, boogie-laden jams that highlighted the proficiency of the players. While they may not have always been impromptu, they were very impressive, and it was easy to get caught in their grip. Indeed, the majority of this big crowd happily succumbed, and it was with deep regret that they signed off after a terrific set.