Royel Otis
Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne
Friday, October 17th
As the house lights dim, we enjoy Harry Nilsson’s “Jump Into The Fire” – royel otis’ choice of intro tape. The GA standing-only stalls section is heaving from the photography barrier all the way back to well beyond the mixing desk – it’s a sold-out gig at this 7,500-capacity venue, alright.
Hot off the heels of performing at many bucket-list international festivals – including Glastonbury, Governor’s Ball, Lollapalooza and Fuji Rock – royel otis hit the Margaret Court Arena stage like they’re taking a victory lap. “This is the biggest show we’ve ever played,” vocalist Otis Pavlovic later confirms.
This is the multiple ARIA Award-winning duo’s ‘meet me in the car’ tour and the giant horizontal screen across the stage’s back wall announces, “Welcome to the show”. Once onstage, they tear into “i hate this tune”, with its tuneful “Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh”s and jangly guitar parts.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
Black-and-white striped long sleeves poke out from under guitarist Royel Maddell’s The Jesus Lizard T-shirt, which is giving ‘90s grunge revival.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you in the car on the corner…” – “car” is greeted by a deafening crowd singalong, as visuals featuring young couples making out in the back seats of cars grace the back screen. Then as soon as the opening strains of “moody” register, the entire seated section is up on their feet.
Following the romantic “more to lose” (“If there’s a world where I’m living without you/ Then that’s a world where I shouldn’t be”), Pavlovic and Maddell leave the stage to make their way down to a B-stage that’s set up in front of the mixing desk. Here, they perform a couple of numbers acoustically, “jazz burger” plus their popular cover of “Linger” by The Cranberries. During the latter, Pavlovic rests his voice while the crowd takes the final verse.
Drummer Tim Commandeur (formerly of Operator Please) and keyboardist Tim Ayre return to the stage and commence “I Wanna Dance With You” as Pavlovic and Maddell wind their way back to the main stage before joining in. Audience instructions appear on the back screen – “Dance with the person next to you” (during “dancing with myself”), “Wave your hands in the air” – and all assembled happily oblige.
At the top of “Sofa King”, the screen reads, “Melbourne you’re so fucking gorgeous”. Then “Melbourne” is switched out for many different first names to give maximum crowd members their jollies. “Murder On The Dancefloor”, the band’s savvy triple j Like A Version, follows – they sure know how to royel otis-ify a cover!
Pavlovic warns us “say something” will be their “last song” and then they’re off. But the house lights don’t illuminate, so there’s still hope. Our chanting for “One more song!” is answered when they return for an encore. We’re treated to one of royel otis’ early faves, the Gold-certified “Oysters In My Pocket”.
Shimmering riffs, boppy beats, catchy, concise songs about relatable topics such as being homesick (“come on home”) – what’s not to like? Royel Otis make it all look so easy and sound just as great live as they do on record. Although this band’s performance style is understated, the contagious, danceable energy of their music doesn’t wane during their entire set – not even for one second.
Post-set, Maddell jumps into the photographer pit to hand some plectrums out to worthy recipients. We sure hope the front-row girl with “guitar pick” scrawled across her chest in black Texta/eyeliner, who we clocked onscreen during the show, scored one!
