Tame Impala’s conquest of Britain has been more evolution than revolution. Prior to tonight’s sold out Hammersmith Apollo show, Kevin Parker and his cohorts have filtered through London’s smaller venues with a sort of blissful acquiescence, quietly assured that bigger and better venues would inevitably fall to their soaring, modernist take on psych rock.
Despite having recently conquered the Brixton Academy, tonight’s venue is a marked step-up and even Parker sounds slightly overwhelmed (if not abashed) as he thanks fans ‘‘all the way up in the back’’.The leap in crowd numbers apart, little has changed in the last 12 months, with new bassist Cam Avery’s arrival the only notable exception. Opening with an abridged version of Lonerism bonus track, Led Zeppelin, the band quickly storm into Innerspeak favourite Solitude is Bliss, in which Parker’s lyrical astral projections are only slightly marred by some volume issues. A new track, Auto-Prog, organ-heavy and reminiscent of the ’60s-inspired outings of Lonerism, sounds unrealized and nascent.
Despite the frenzy of sounds and effects, one of the most fascinating aspects of Tame Impala’s live show is their use of the oscilloscope, a box hooked up to the band’s instruments that translates the sound into a back-projected 90’s rave visuals. When paired with phased-out monoliths such as Enders Toi and Alter Ego, the end result is a quite stunning congruity of sound and vision.
Parker, pleading apathy, claims to have spared little thought to Lonerism’s follow up, far less what it might sound like, but on this evidence it can be whatever he wants it to be. On the ascent to a venue of this size, Tame Impala prove they can still prog out (Nothing That has Happened So Far Has Been Anything We Could Control), make crowds dance (Elephant/Half Full Glass of Wine) and sing along (Feels like We Only Go Backwards). Roundhouse, Brixton, Hammersmith, Glastonbury... Arenas next, for better or for worse? Tame Impala’s march to the top is seemingly inexorable.
