Live Review: TesseracT, Circle, Orsome Welles

What a pillar of the local scene Orsome Welles have become over the last few years. They are like that solid, dependable relative who just keeps showing up to family occasions and keeps everyone entertained.

Afforded only 25 minutes due to the epic length of the headliner’s set, the Melbourne five-piece rips through an intense set of their faves (Father’s Eyes is particularly chunky and beautiful) that keeps the energy levels at fever pitch and leaves nothing in the tank when they are done. The crowd has built beautifully by a third of the way through their set, and their appreciation for these stalwarts is palpable. This band rocks raucously but classily.

It’s always interesting seeing local bands in smaller, more intimate pubs and clubs multiple times and then seeing them make the leap to bigger venues and larger audiences. Some bands crap themselves a little, some take to it like they were born on the bigger stage. Orsome Welles fall into the latter category.

And apparently, so do Circles. This is a band in transition, and judging by their new album and their show tonight, that transition is going along swimmingly. There is little doubt that a frontman is the hardest member to replace, at least from a fan point of view, and the changeover from the enigmatic big man with the big voice, Perry Kakridas, to the sleeker singer-guitarist, Ben Rechter, has been about as seamless as such changeovers can be. Kakridas left behind a legacy of pretty damn difficult vocal histrionics for his successor. However, even if the band leans more heavily on the new record, Rechter handles the older material with aplomb. His voice blends just as sweetly with the excellent backing vocals of guitarist Ted Furuhashi as did the previous singer’s, and the harmonies veritably soar. This is a band absolutely ready to take the next giant step in their career. 

Just to top it all off, it is Furuhashi’s birthday and he is presented, on stage, with a birthday cake with candles. What a sweet touch.

From a band ready to take the next step forward to a band truly at the peak of their considerable powers, TesseracT hit the stage. Well over a decade and four albums into their career, this band tick over like finely tuned, well-oiled machine in every aspect: the business side of their operation, the writing, recording and releasing of their albums and their scintillating live show. Few bands since Canadian prog masters Rush have had the ability to reproduce their recorded sound in a live setting so faithfully and yet, like Rush, do so with such passion, intensity and drama. It really is a delight for the senses.

The setlist is a career-spanning dream. If two highlights can be cherry-picked from the wall to wall quality on display here, they would be Phoenix and Survival, both so majestic and so emotional it makes one misty-eyed and exultant all at once.

Tonight we are bearing witness to not one, but two highly skilled vocal technicians pulling off ridiculously difficult parts that were originally written and performed by other singers and doing so as if they were the ones who had generated the parts. Daniel Tompkins’ performance this night is otherworldly, both on his own recorded works and those of Ashe O’Hara from the one TesseracT release that Tompkins didn’t sing on, Altered State.

This band is a breed apart, let it not be another three years before they return to our shores.