Bar on the Hill, Newcastle Uni
Thursday September 25, 2014 :
Renown for their magnanimously energetic live shows, Ball Park Music, has been busy touring the country and steadily collecting hearts along the way with their infectious sound, witty lyricism and inescapable good time vibes. Newcastle being no stranger to the vastly eccentric charm of Ball Park Music made it very clear just how fond they are…
Ball Park Music took to the stage wasting no time launching into ever so catchy ‘Shithaus’ and instantly the impassioned crowd found their voices, contently singing along to every word. And so the theme was set for the night, with no foreseeable loss for enthusiasm imminent the punters made sure their lively presence was felt… and Ball Park Music ensured to follow in much the same league, with a clearly chuffed smirk on each band member’s face.
‘Coming Down’ and a pared back reinvention of ‘iFly’ took the reigns of personal favoritism for me, despite taking down the tempo on both tracks the crowd still sang and swayed along in some kind of communal serenade, conjuring all the feels. Although the set was a well balanced mix of songs from debut album Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs, second album Museum and latest release Puddinghead… there was simply no stopping the crowd from chiming along in delight. From old favourites such as ‘Sad Rude Future Dude’ or ‘Literally Baby’; to new tracks such as ‘Everything Is Shit Except My Friendship With You’ or ‘Cocaine Lion’ – every single song included in the set had a ample layer of crowd choir hovering over the top and a healthy side of abysmal boogie thrown in for good measure.
Clearly enthused by the ceaseless vibes of the crowd, front man Sam Cromack had a few encouraging words to say “Don’t you dare stop dancing Newcastle, don’t even think about stopping, motherfuckers!” swiftly causing a widespread outbreak of boogie and encouraging the high flying vibrations of the audience to sky rocket, there was really nothing more left to do than for Cromack to remove the shirt from his back and dive into the crowd.
With a rowdy encore steadily predicted and certainly in high demand, the crowd continued to vocalize their adoration with an extended “Baaaaaaall Paaaaaaaark” holler with an anticipation building stomp/clap combination. Soon enough BPM made merrily returned to the stage with an impromptu rendition of the ‘Mexican Hat Dance’ theme between guitarist Dean Hanson and frontman Sam Cromack that required two takes but nobody really seemed to mind… I firmly believe that BPM could have sang a local Takeaway menu and the crowd still would have been in awe and jumped like bat shit crazy. Though when it came to the legitimate encore, ‘Fence Sitter’ was a wise choice… all felt quite apt for the final serenade and outbreak of boogie, for a night that wholeheartedly proved that BPM is also quite fond of Newcastle in return.
Reviewer: Chloe Webb
Photographer: Brooke Nash
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