Father John Misty

It was another hot day in Melbourne but that didn't deter me from heading down to The Hi-Fi Bar tonight to see Father John Misty.  Luckily for me Oh Mercy was the opening band for the night.  First Alex came out and did "Lady Eucalyptus" on electric guitar solo, then was joined by Rohan to play "Europa."  Finally Simon and Eliza came on stage and the band launched into "Still Making Me Pay."  Everyone was dressed very nicely with the boys in their various colored suits and Eliza in a black dress.  The whole set was tight and unrelenting as they played songs off of Deep Heat including "Drums," "Rebel Beats," "Fever," "Pilgrim's Blues" and "My Man."  They finished like they did last week with a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Memories."  It was a very impressive set and the best I've seen them play in a while.  If I didn't already know their music I would have been a new convert.

Father John Misty (aka Joshua Tillman) and his band came onto the stage to big cheers from the crowd and opened with "Fun Times In Babylon."  I actually saw him a bit over a year ago when he was still playing drums in Fleet Foxes.  Joshua is quite a charismatic front man with his unique dance moves and poses while singing.  The whole set featured songs from his album Fear Fun, including my favorites "Nancy From Now On," "Only Son Of A Ladiesman," "Now I'm Learning To Love The War," and "Well, You Can Do It Without Me."  The in between song banter was quite funny throughout the night and may have been aided by jet lag after the long flight to Australia.  They finished the main set with an epic version of "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" and returned to the stage for an encore that started with the new song "I Love You, Honey Bear" before finishing with a cover of Canned Heat's "On the Road Again."  Overall it was an excellent show with two very talented singer-songwriters and their bands.

Here's the video for "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings"