Slowly Slowly, Grayscale, Coldwave @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 5/4/2025
The simplicity of intimacy, the observance of deliverance and the wonder of colour are on display during Slowly Slowly’s homecoming tour for their new album Forgiving Spree.
A band that has toured the world these last eighteen months and are back headlining the country in their biggest venues yet opt for spareness on stage. Two risers and a story to be told within the coloured spectrum of lightning, the guys let the music and performance become the theatre.
Twinkled toed guitarist Albert Doan swans across stage while simultaneously dropping emotion inducing solos. Front man Ben Stewart captures the audience’s attention into becoming his harmonies in song all while being a whirlwind of energy. The lightning, velvet and sweet, wrapping band and audience into a warm embrace.
That effectiveness of being understated becomes so powerful on an evening that is about the music being all consuming.
Openers Coldwave bring with them a vibe of a gang of misfits, whether it’s the Ian Curtis styled front man’s demeanour, the trumpet player solos or the rhythm sections fury went flexing, it’s actually tough to categorise them. Are they shoegaze , punk, jazz, new wave or do they throw it all into a giant pot and let it cook? Either way, there’s an attitude about them that they don’t care, they want to have fun, make music to dance to and sing. They did that tonight.
Stopping in for only their second ever Australian show we have Philadelphian’s Grayscale next and they try and squeeze as much as they can into their short time slot.
Through The Landslide pops like champagne with melody and harmony. There is a warmth to their music, like hanging out with friends on a summer night. Andrew Keyne’s guitar solos soar so much I actually stopped ordering a drink at the bar just to watch.
Dance With Your Ghost is infectious and catchy with everyone clapping along while in front man Colin Walsh, they have a man who oozes smoothness as displayed in Fever Dream.
Slowly Slowly are anything but slow. Blueprint opens, and the floor jumps like it’s on lava and doesn’t stop through the evening.
Gimme The Wrench is so catchy you’re gonna need a bigger boat, while Nothing On sounds like what eating a strawberry favoured starburst would be.
In vocalist Stewart, they have a man who works on his craft and knows what magic he has spellbound the crowd to the point they finish the song All Time.
The bands music mixes modern pop punk with 80’s stardust as done in Love Letters.
In fact, the feeling throughout was this show was like a box of chocolates, some sweet and caramel like Ten Leaf Clover, others nutty and crunchy such as ‘Jellyfish’, others lingering on the tongue in a sugar rush bliss like the end of God.
There’s no encore, which everyone is thankful for, and the last song Race Car Blues starts with the simplicity of the set up becoming so effective again, the band backlight in darkness, the slow refrain of ‘I don’t wanna go’ sung across the venue.
It’s fair to say, that while Stewart was singing that, the crowd felt that. For that is what tonight was, a gathering of friends, simply connecting and enjoying this moment for as long as possible.
Live Review By Iain McCallum