THE power of pop music – that magical combination of chords, beats and melody – is eternal.
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You only had to witness the euphoria and emotion at Old Trafford on Sunday when some of the world’s biggest pop entertainers came together to raise money for the victims of terrorism in Manchester.
The crowd might have been significantly smaller and the occasion much less altruistic, but San Cisco’s performance on Sunday night at the Cambridge Hotel carried the same pop escapism. Certainly after another weekend blighted by acts of terrorism in London, San Cisco’s upbeat brand of indie provided a welcome relief.
The Fremantle four-piece last played in Newcastle at the Cambridge Hotel’s New Year’s Eve Street Party and obviously left an impression. This return show sold out a fortnight prior.
Support act Thelma Plum was disappointing. The How Much Does Your Love Cost singer sounded flat and appeared disinterested.
The heaving “San Cisco” chant before show time, at the work and school-friendly time of 7.30pm, guaranteed this would be a high-energy evening.
San Cisco opened with the new song Did You Get What You Came For? and the crowd responded with a definite “yes” by dancing up a storm.
Over the next 70 minutes San Cisco kept the pace energetic, introducing a host of infectious new material from their third album The Water, and a selection of their most popular tracks like Run, Fred Astaire and Too Much Time Together.
The female-dominated crowd lapped up every minute. Over the course of the evening the amount of girls sitting on their partner’s shoulders sprang up like daisies in a meadow.
Frontman Jordi Davieson handled the majority of the vocals and even delivered a solo acoustic version of Waiting For The Weekend in the encore, but drummer Scarlett Stevens is the real star of the band.
Whenever she joined Davieson on vocals in tracks like Too Much Time Together and SloMo the harmonies soared. Stevens had her own moment to shine on the sugary Magic and proved she’s definitely under utilised.
One criticism generally slinged at San Cisco is their lack of danger. They appeared like four sweet kids-next-door types when they broke onto the scene in 2012 with their single Awkward and little has happened since to change that perception.
The Water continues the development of dark sexual energy San Cisco began to exhibit on their 2014 album Gracetown in songs like Run. The Water’s title track and The Distance were propelled along by a throbbing bass line and synths, giving it a more sinister edge than their cleaner studio versions.
There aren’t many Australian indie acts doing pop better than San Cisco. And right now we all need a pop song.