Amidst the dazzling array of spinning circles that was Tame Impala's visual display, the headline act dove straight into "Let it Happen" from last year's Currents for their Bestival show. Right here they nailed a tack that would be revisited time and time again throughout the show: beautifully drawing out all of their songs to a breaking point before kicking them back into gear.
Despite amazing vocals from Kevin Parker throughout the show, the instrumental breakdowns are where Tame Impala really shone. They are incredibly tight, with fully formed songs, but at heart they came across like a garage band that really just wants to jam out. Every track seemed poised to tumble into a ten-minute freak out, before being brought back to sanity.
Sandwiched in between their newer, floatier tracks, the riff-tastic "Elephant" was a welcome slap in the face that got the majority of seated patrons out of their chairs in a matter of seconds. As if drummer Julien Barbagallo wasn't completely on fire for the entire set, his contribution to "Elephant" had all eyes focused on him for the rest of the show.
It's been enough time since Currents that Tame Impala didn't feel the need to stick to that material, which meant the crowd were treated to a good dose of songs from Innerspeaker and Lonerism, one of which completely stole the show. "Apocalypse Dream" has never been a particularly standout track amongst Tame Impala's back catalogue, but their performance of it at Bestival will make sure that anyone in the crowd never hears it the same way again. It was teased in, stretched out, and awash with waves of soporific guitar work.
That marked a brief end to the show, and while they came back out to play the delightful "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards," nothing could really top "Apocalypse Dream," for their Bestival show or anyone's all day, for that matter. If that performance was anything to go by, they've firmly earned their place as the frontrunners of modern psych-rock.
Despite amazing vocals from Kevin Parker throughout the show, the instrumental breakdowns are where Tame Impala really shone. They are incredibly tight, with fully formed songs, but at heart they came across like a garage band that really just wants to jam out. Every track seemed poised to tumble into a ten-minute freak out, before being brought back to sanity.
Sandwiched in between their newer, floatier tracks, the riff-tastic "Elephant" was a welcome slap in the face that got the majority of seated patrons out of their chairs in a matter of seconds. As if drummer Julien Barbagallo wasn't completely on fire for the entire set, his contribution to "Elephant" had all eyes focused on him for the rest of the show.
It's been enough time since Currents that Tame Impala didn't feel the need to stick to that material, which meant the crowd were treated to a good dose of songs from Innerspeaker and Lonerism, one of which completely stole the show. "Apocalypse Dream" has never been a particularly standout track amongst Tame Impala's back catalogue, but their performance of it at Bestival will make sure that anyone in the crowd never hears it the same way again. It was teased in, stretched out, and awash with waves of soporific guitar work.
That marked a brief end to the show, and while they came back out to play the delightful "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards," nothing could really top "Apocalypse Dream," for their Bestival show or anyone's all day, for that matter. If that performance was anything to go by, they've firmly earned their place as the frontrunners of modern psych-rock.
