Live Review: Boy & Bear w/ All Our Exes Live In Texas @ Lake Kawana Community Centre

Australia’s indie-folk kings Boy & Bear drew a mixed crowd to the Lake Kawana Community Centre for an energised eighth stop on their massive regional Australian tour. After recording, writing, and releasing music for a good part of the last decade, it was no surprise that fans of all ages arrived in flocks to see the Sydney band’s first Sunshine Coast performance in quite some time.

Kicking off the night was bubbly Sydney quartet, All Our Exes Live In Texas. If you’ve had the pleasure of witnessing these folk powerhouses perform, you’ll understand that it’s no light statement to say they’re mesmerisingly talented. With a hilarious introduction, where they introduced themselves as a surprise sex-changed Boy & Bear, the folk goddesses took to what they do best, catchy and heartfelt folk ballads.

Clad with acoustic guitar, ukulele, and piano accordion, their opening set was a smattering of quirky songwriting anecdotes and hilarious banter among themselves, among the jangles of tambourines. Despite mysteriously missing their fourth member, their unique voices eagerly drew audiences from the outdoor drinking area into the venue, and just as quickly captured the hearts of the crowd. If you’re keen to know more about these ladies, check out our interview!

The stage was then cleared for Boy & Bear, and after we narrowly avoided being taken out by a local mum’s backpack and evaded having our view blocked by a tall bald-headed man, the stage was graced by the five Sydney blokes we’d been waiting for. Stepping onstage to a classic Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Have You Ever Seen The Rain, the five faces of Boy & Bear beamed as the room lit up with hundreds of local fans. While there were smiles all round, they certainly didn’t muck about, diving straight into killer bass-heavy performance of their most recent album’s title track, Limit Of Love.

“Fans were dipped in both ends of the Boy & Bear’s lifespan, with a perfect mix of the good old tracks from the band’s first two albums.”

From there fans were dipped in both ends of the Boy & Bear’s lifespan, with a perfect mix of the good old tracks from the band’s first two albums ‘Moonfire’ and ‘Harlequin Dream’ and their 2016 album ‘Limit Of Love’. David Hosking first picked up his acoustic guitar heading into the third track, Where’d You Go, and it seemed the audience’s excitement did too.

Following this, the audience was treated to an extended intro by guitarist Killian Gavin and bassist David Symes into the swaying, twinkling Breakdown Slow. The chilled vibes continued into crowd pleaser Harlequin Dream, featuring a beautiful echo from Hosking’s distinctive vocals and a escalating electric solo from Gavin.

Between each song, the lights would drop dramatically allowing the band to change instruments and provide a spectacle each time the lights went up and a new song begun. With a few guitar changes, Boy & Bear broke into their upbeat Like A Version of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black from earlier this year, adding their signature rock instrumentation and Hosking’s folk voice to the renowned tune. Though the set was quickly slowed back down with Showdown, including a pulsating introduction, with continuing thunderous drum beats and funky electronics.

Stepping away from their newer work, Boy & Bear then took their eager audience down memory lane, and with much enthusiasm. The entire crowd singing along to The Storm, one of the band’s oldest songs, as all five members of the band embraced the soft “oooh-ooohs” of the track. The relaxing vibes continued with stella vocal work and soft percussion in Lordy May, however, the mellowed crowd were quickly built back up with Part Time Believer, featuring another cool guitar solo to get the audience moving once again.

“The favourite tracks continued with Big Man, complete with a dramatic drumbeat that could be felt reverberating through your body.”

However, once the opening gentle guitar plucks of their triple j Hottest 100 favourite Feeding Line began, it was obvious crowd were ecstatic. The favourite tracks continued with Big Man, also from ‘Moonfire’, complete with a dramatic drumbeat that could be felt reverberating through your body and the sweet image of a bass player reverting to tambourine player.

Just as quickly as the concert began though, the band were ready to round off the set, with Hosking’s swift “we don’t do encores because we never had enough songs to play them, so if you’re the encore type, here it is”. With that the audience was treated to the guitar excellence of Southern Sun, the leading track from their sophomore album, followed by Walk The Wire, resulting in the audience falling into a folk-rock trance.

Despite failing to play their two true folk-rock bangers (hello, Golden Jubilee and Milk & Sticks?), Boy & Bear’s show could not be faulted. Their musicianship is undoubtedly credit to the long years they’ve spent in the industry and once the room filled up, anyone could see the true spectrum of ages that Boy & Bear encapsulate in their music.  The entire audience, from children through to oldies were entranced by the folk goodness the quintet produced!