Live Review: Flyying Colours Lansdowne, Sydney 18.06.2022

It’s a cold and wintery night in Sydney. Outside the Lansdowne Hotel a queue that snakes around the corner has formed. A couple stops to ask who’s playing – a fan with multicoloured hair replies, “Flying Colours“. The couple walk on, the guy muttering that he wishes they were going to the gig instead.

The upstairs room at the Lansdowne fills up quickly as eager fans stake out their spots in front of the stage. There is a sense of excitement and relief in the crowd – relief because the landmark music venue has received a reprieve from the developer’s wrecking ball and excitement because it has been a while since Flyying Colours last played Sydney.

The band saunters on stage, kicking off the set with ‘I Don’t Want To Let You Down’ -charismatic lead singer Brodie Brümmer delivering understated vocals over his hypnotic, circular guitar work. The heart of Flyying Colours is Andy Lloyd-Russell pounding on the drums to produce the grooving beat around which the band weave their swirling magic. The stage lighting is minimalistic and whilst Lloyd-Russell is all but invisible to the audience, his powerful drumming is very much at the forefront of the band’s sound. Bassist, Melanie Barbaro coolly surveys the scene, delivering the unwavering baseline around which Brümmer’s scything guitar work buzzes in and then retreats again. In some songs, Brümmer and guitarist, Gemma O’Connor face each other slowly swaying as their instruments combine to produce a lush waterfall of music that washes over the crowd.

The band plays a selection of tracks from all their albums. Someone in the crowd yells out a request for ‘Morning Stoner’ but it’s not on the setlist tonight. The band ends the gig with ‘White Knuckles’ from their latest album, ‘Fantasy Country’. It’s five minutes of hypnotic bliss as the band weave their way through the whirling, mesmerising rise and fall of the music.

When the song ends, the band leave the stage and the crowd starts chanting “One More Song, One More Song!”. But it’s not to be, Brümmer returns briefly to tell everyone that there is a curfew and there’s to be no more music tonight. Some things in Sydney will never change!