11 October 2024 – Fortitude Music Hall – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Luke Petty
After three years of sending tapes back and forth to each other, and off the back of their debut record, The Deluge, the long teased collaboration between Powderfinger lead singer Bernard Fanning, and Something for Kate lead singer, Paul Dempsey, has finally hit the road. We were incredibly humbled to have been invited to the bands debut show, to a sold out Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane. And joining the show was a musician who, until Friday night, had slipped my radar, Merpire.
The Sydney based singer/songwriter opened the show, with her take on a great mix of indie pop and at times, more alternative rock. The voice on her is absolutely awesome, and I can see why Paul Dempsey spoke about her during the show. This woman is a force of nature, and will be someone hopefully that will break through into the mainstream soon. Opening the show with the song ‘Brain Cells’, she proceeded to just layer awesome tune after awesome tune on the Brisbane crowd.
Merpire – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Luke Petty
And to spend it, in Brisbane, on her 36th birthday, opening for two of the best singer songwriters in Australia, she seemed pretty chuffed about it. There were some other stand out songs. ‘Habits’ was a really good one, as well as ‘Dinosaur and Village’. She also debuted a new song called ‘Leaving With You’ that was beautiful. She even ripped out an awesome Caroline Polachek cover, with ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings’, which felt unexpected. The set closed off nicely with another new song, ‘Canine’, which beautifully set the tone for the main event of the evening. Merpire has an EP dropping soon (I didn’t catch the date), but I’ll be diving deep into it when it drops.
After a brief 15 minute break, the lights dimmed, as the stage started lighting up to reflect the album cover for Fanning Dempsey National Park’s debut record. The title track, ‘The Deluge’, opened the show, as the crowd sang and danced along. The song finished, to an insane reaction, which it felt like both Fanning and Dempsey did not expect. You couldn’t wipe the smile off Fannings face, as they busted into ‘Strangers’ next, before a quick break in the set to welcome everyone to the show. The show was split up nicely. It was a sixteen song set, but they also played the entire record, with a nice split of songs from their own catalogs.
Fanning Dempsey – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Luke Petty
After smashing through ‘Disconnect’, ‘Past Tomorrow’, and ‘Blood’, we got out first “cover” of the night, which was ‘Ramona Was a Waitress’ from Dempsey’s catalog. The crowd took a second to realize what was playing, but as soon as those lyrics kicked in, the crowd erupted. The next song took no time at all to recognize, as the intro to ‘Wish You Well’ by Fanning kicked into another insane eruption of love.
After ‘Born Expecting’, we got another cover. But nothing from their own catalog. Instead, it was a cover of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ by Tears for Fears. The cover was great, but Fanning struggled with the lyrics a little bit at times, which he joked about after the song finished. ‘After Never Pass This Way Again’, we got two more catalog covers, with ‘Monsters’ by Something for Kate, and ‘Pick You Up’ by Powderfinger played. I expected at least one Powderfinger song, but this wouldn’t have been it. It was cool to hear live, as it’s one I’ve never actually seen live before I don’t think.
Fanning Dempsey – Fortitude Music Hall – photos by Luke Petty
The main set was closed off with ‘Dunning Kruger National Park’, as the crowd chanted for one more song. The band came back out to encore with ‘King of Nowhere’, before Dempsey and Fanning introduced the backing band, which included Dave Williams from Augie March on drums, who I didn’t even clock until he stood up. The set closed out with one more cover, this time of ‘Under Pressure’ by Queen and David Bowie, before the final song, ‘Eyes Wide Open’, finished the night. It’s not often you get to be at a band’s debut show. But to be in the room, for their debut sold out live show, was truly something special, that I can say that I was there for.
