Live Review: Pond - Electric Ballroom, London 03/10/2024
Australian rockers Pond debuted their new album Stung! to a riotous crowd in Camden’s historic Electric Ballroom on the London leg of their Europe tour, having recently been upgraded from Scala given the success of their new album. The Australian rockers have a band that gives you exactly what you need from a show, an uplifting affair that makes Thursdays feel like the new Friday – playing the majority of Stung! in full with a couple of rare surprises.
Frontman Nick Allbrook captured the heart and soul of the audience. Opening with Daisy, there were plenty of deep cuts on this leg of the tour – as well as fan favourites, drawing from a rich back catalogue of ten studio albums. When a band can follow on from Daisy with what would be many a band’s encore song (I’m) Stung!) Pond’s titular track – a song about rejection and crushes, with the simple lyrics capturing audience’s imagination: the chorus, wonderfully upbeat, is something you can’t help but sing along to: “Well I’m stung, the bell’s been rung, and only time will tell, if she’s the one” – it’s the eclectic mix of music that Pond can draw from to keep the audience entertained with Edge of the World Pt 3 ending on such a strong note it’s hard not to get swept up in the satisfaction of its brilliance – coming after Aloneaflameaflower showing their ability to mix things up on stage.
Mosh pits were started and the crowd had a blast – a circle pit was quasi formed before the end of one song, but after quietening the crowd down, the energy was ramped up, bringing the heat to the Electric Ballroom for Sweep Me Off My Feet. The band were able to pull from The Weather with a fusion that fit in with the brilliance of Stung! from start to finish – a high tempo, high energy set that really delivered and once it started never fully slowed down. Someone sweep me off my feet I am not an angel, I’m barely a man, showcased Allbrook’s vulnerability, I’m lonely but I’m here gave a reckoning. The single, triumphant in all its glory, Black Lung, drew from the inspiration of mangled cuts of the 1984 cult horror film Razorback and it felt like a rare treat to see “oz-spoliation” exploited on stage.
French band Barbagallo got the crowd warmed up with an impressive mix of indie psychedelic and a combination of French and Italian, which delighted the Italian singers in the crowd; the side project for Tame Impala drummer, Julien Barbagallo, took on more of a folk/indie sound. These pop songs shine just as bright as Pond’s, and really made a cold October night feel like the peak of the summer, capturing an energy comparable to Phoenix. It’s no surprise then that Barbagallo isn’t exactly a rookie – his work with Tahiti 80 really shows his experience at appealing to a crowd; especially as a band member of Hyperclean and Aquaserge – two really promising French bands. To see them tour to an audience that barely knew he was Tame Impala’s drummer let alone anything about them was a real treat – even a onetime former Pond member himself.
Back to Pond though; and their gig was the highlight of a packed autumn calendar for me already – instantly memorable; instantly delightable. If you were in a bad mood before Allman assured that you wouldn’t be when you were leaving – a real uplift of crowd energy. Their encore saw them come out to Hang a Cross on Me – as much a delight as Constant Picnic, played earlier in the set, the debut drack from Stung! that opened with a real bite. Allman crowd surfed multiple times throughout the whole set and who could blame him; the crowd being as energetic as they were instantly hard to resist. Now in their tenth album, Pond are capable of honing their craft both in the studio and on stage – restraint and excess, confidence and vulnerability, over two decades of music brought to the forefront in a real fusion of psychedelic and funk brilliance. It’s a band that you can’t help but sing along to – anchored by a frontman on top of his game. With a tour as varied, prolific and as high energy as this you’d forgive Pond for wanting a quiet night.
Not so with this band – Giant Tortoise and Toast were high tempo, high energy thrills – backed by Jay Watson on synth; Shiny Joe Ryan, Jamie Terry and James Ireland; the current members of a band that has reached its apex supporting a frontman that has lost none of his charisma since starting playing in the band at 20, having more energy than some artists more than half his age. Toast was how you closed a main set – as many of the band’s albums were on display as possible here as you could expect; sure to delight the fans whether old or new.
Words by Miles Milton-Jefferies
