RVG- The Espy

Tonight was the first time I've been back to The Espy since they reopened after doing major renovations. It's become much more yuppified in the bar areas, but The Gershwin Room still had its old charm, which is where I headed to see RVG play this evening. It was a bit of a gothic and industrial sounding start with the two opening acts V and The Native Cats. Both played as duos and used a variety of samples and beats to create and layer their songs on stage.

When RVG came out lead singer Romy Vager started the set by apologizing for making all us Northsiders come to the Southside for a gig. RVG have had a pretty big year of touring internationally, so this show was part of a triumphant homecoming tour of Australia. They played a mix of old and new songs during their hour long set, and while they acknowledged the lack of new releases this year, it sounds like a new single should be out in early 2020. Highlights of the set were "Alexandra," "A Quality Of Mercy," "IBM," "Vincent Van Gogh," "I Used To Love You" and a new song called "Christian Neurosurgeon." As usual the whole band were on fire, and Romy is such an emotive frontwoman as she performs that you don't take your eyes off her. For the encore they didn't want to leave the stage because it would have put them in the kitchen, so they stayed on and finished the night with "Feral Beach," which was partially inspired by the time Romy lived in St Kilda.

Here's a live version of "Christian Neurosurgeon"