Tame Impala, Glasgow review: 'electro pop maestros'
He may not have been sure what day of the week it was, but Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker brought the party to Glasgow all the same, writes Fiona Shepherd
Tame Impala, Hydro, Glasgow ★★★★
Australia’s Tame Impala have enjoyed a steady, inexorable rise from diffident indie shoegazers playing one of the smaller stages at T in the Park to arena-filling electro pop maestros. The lights went up on the murkily circular lit stage of their biggest tour to date revealing shy frontman Kevin Parker in typically fey falsetto mode leading a band stationed behind keyboards like control room employees. But these guys can get their rock on, even to the Black Sabbath-referencing extent of the glam stomping Elephant.
This bluesy rock behemoth was one of the heavier numbers in their set. Opener Apocalypse Dreams was more typical of their languorous psych pop seduction, with lasers on stun, providing a truly immersive accompaniment to their electro prog manoeuvres. The whooshing synth sound of the house-influenced Breathe Deeper was dramatically bathed in rods of red light, all the better to cover for Parker’s lack of stage presence.
Later tracked by a roving camera walking through the bowels of the Hydro (including toilet break), he seemed more at home sitting on the floor of a tiny B-stage surrounded by keyboards and table lamps, reclining to sing the pumping, hypnotic Not My World, before taking the set from bedroom rave back to arena anthem Let It Happen, which was beautifully embellished with iridescent confetti shower.
“I don't know what day of the week it is, but let's party,” he suggested at one point with some humility, presiding over the mass singalong to yearning pop hit Feels Like We Only Go Backwards and another red laser symphony for the disco pop of Dracula. Even the catchy electro jazz jam of brand new song Obsolete hit its mark in a ravishing son et lumiere show which climaxed with the exultant New Person, Same Old Mistakes and an encore of clubby bangers and streamlined synth pop.
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