LIVE REVIEW: Feelings @ Alhambra Lounge

As I was walking to Alhambra (home of Lambda Lambda Lambda on Thursday nights) and Brisbane outpost for FEELINGS’ single tour, I was stopped. The guy beside me pointed across the crossing to someone standing on the corner and as the walk light turned green he asked, “Isn’t that the guy from The Medics?”

Whether it was, I wasn’t sure. But The Guy Who Might Have Been The Guy from The Medics was making his way to Lambda as well.

At ten-thirty, as local contingent BABAGANOUJ were finishing their set, Lambda’s small set-up seemed almost deserted despite the dedicated group of Babaganouj fans crowding the stage. And, when they’d wrapped up their set with ‘It’s Rainin, It’s Summer’ and a saccharine retro cover, the crowd dispersed to corners of the club’s eclectic fit-out as all of your least favourite songs from the Nineties began to blare over the sound system.

When I ducked into smokers my boyfriend nudged me and nodded at someone standing behind us. “Isn’t that Dean McGrath from Hungary Kids of Hungary?”

By the time I made it back inside, Simon Berkfinger's [of Philidelphia Grand Jury fame] new project, FEELINGS, had drawn the crowd. The inside of the club had gone from relatively calm to frenetic, and it was getting difficult to move from one end of the room to the other.

It’s evident that FEELINGS, like the Philly Jay’s before, has already won a place in fans hearts. Pessimistic as I am, I’d anticipated that the crowd would only start to respond by Intercourse – the newer single, and arguably the catchiest (which was played late into the set). I was quickly proven wrong as the crowd was stirred into a sweaty tangle of rolled up skinny jeans, winter white flatforms and pencil mustaches on the dance floor.

The band’s performance was without fault, but that’s to be expected from a band that combines the lovable Berkfinger, Dan Sweat from festival favourite Art Vs Science, and Dave Rennick of Dappled Cities. Small mistakes – of which there were only one or two – were glossed over thanks to remarkable showmanship and unavoidable charisma.

Feelings, as the headlining act, even managed to achieve that indie cornerstone of “sounding better live”, despite of the admittedly average sound system (which, no joke, sounded waterlogged throughout the sets of openers Pool Shop and Babaganouj).

Feelings is the best of Art Vs Science, Philidelphia Grand Jury and Dappled Cities in one. It’s fun, it’s fun to dance to, and it’s charming in its complete and utter lack of a sense of seriousness. Here’s a prediction for the future based on what I saw on the 7th: in a few short months, Feelings is going to be a household name – in no small part, thanks to this single.

Words by Cheryl Billman

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