Live Review: Ocean Alley - Troxy, London 30/06/2023
It could have been good, but instead it was great.
A young crowd populated the audience on Friday in lots of mellow colours and typical East London wardrobe to support Australia’s Ocean Alley.
The opener was Byron Bay’s Seaside, who had a very grounded and confident stage presence. As more people flooded in throughout their set, no one could have ever mistaken the room as half empty. They commanded the stage upon entrance and served as an excellent warm-up for their headliners. Vocalist Darcy Dexter was super engaging the whole performance -introducing the story behind almost every song, pointing out her best friend in the crowd, and cracking jokes. She expressed “I miss my dog but I love this country,” and several times reiterated how genuinely grateful they were to be there. Overall they served as a really impressive opening act, playing their own work as well as a couple covers, including The Stone Roses “I Wanna Be Adored.
Taking the stage to Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky,” like rock and roll gods themselves Ocean Alley drop right into “Lemonworld,” the intense, bass heavy opener for their 2016 album Lost Tropics. The crowd is immediately enamored, and as lead vocalist Baden Donegal announces this as the biggest headline show to date on this tour, someone in the crowd shouts “I’m moving to Australia” a declaration which is repeated later on as the band continued to recruit more people to their beach side, low altitude lifestyle.
The next two songs to follow were “Tombstone” and “Knees,” the later of which featured Donegal in the spotlight, instigating everyone clapping in unison as drummer Tom O’Brien slowly ascended them back into the final chorus. Safe to say not a single person was left kneeling, but you couldn’t have blamed them if they had fallen forward in worship.
The band then went into showcasing work off their newest album Low Altitude Living (2022), including “Simple Pleasures” and “Perfume,” during which the smoke and lights exhibited the sticky but satisfied collective on the floor. They next went into the soulful and reminiscent “Snake Eyes,” before bringing the tone back up again into “Home.” This was touchingly prefaced by the bittersweet reality of this being their final show on this tour – as the song marks an appreciation for their home lives when they are not on the road. This really highlighted Mitch Gailbraith on the guitar, each note of the riff was crystal clear through room. “Double Vision” was another easy crowd pleaser, which had everyone singing along.
A big winner of the night was “Yellow Mellow,” an old favourite off their first EP of the same name. This was perhaps the best example of exactly what the Ocean Alley sound is; the ominous intro with stylized lighting into the bouncy reggae verses and chorus had every hand waving and a smile of pure delight on every face. A minor crowd fight sparking on the right side of the stage couldn’t last long, it would be impossible for anyone to hold on to hate in the environment created by those six onstage.
They quickly transported back to their new material, with “Drinks and Cigars,” and “Deepest Darkness,” which pulsed through the crowd and embodied the incredible sound of the Troxy, a clashing, classic rock style emulating throughout the song. “West Coast” then shows off the more diverse aspects of their sound, revealing further insight to the sonic creativity they have to offer. One thing to note about their entire set, which was especially prominent during this track, is the mixing. Each instrument and vocals are impressively clear, to the point where one might believe the performance had been airbrushed. Donegal’s rich voice is no less than perfection, and the same can be said for each member on their respective instrument – this is a tight band that has clearly been playing together for the long while.
Continuing into “Confidence,” their biggest hit to date, they had every person singing and every camera up – letting the entire venue reflect that self-assurance back onto them. As if the energy couldn’t already be topped, the band immediately went into “Happy Sad,” in the middle of which they announced it as the last song of the evening. The huge outro resulted in a return of the clapping beat from the crowd and further proof of Donegal’s vocal ability.
Barely giving time for a “one more song” chant to start up, they pulled a reverse card on the crowd and returned onstage with thematically relevant encore choices: echoing their cover of Player’s “Baby Come Back,” as well as their first single off Low Altitude Living “Touch Back Down.” These both implying a promise of return, they handed out guitar picks, setlists, and tossed drumsticks to nearby fans, with people holding hands and swaying from the gates to the more scarcely seated upper circle.
There is an element of timelessness to Ocean Alley’s music; they utilize their psychedelic rock influence to make what is ultimately a mixing of genre sound as though it has already been established as classic. The performance featured a nice balance between placing their new album’s content at the forefront while solidifying their old favourites.
Words by Frances Cameron
Photography by Abigail Shii
