Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Monday July 29, 2013 :
Fresh from Splendour and kicking of their first of three sold out shows at Newtown’s Enmore Theatre, Of Monsters and Men came onstage ready to please an audience that was ready to be pleased. With a curtain separating the stage from the crowd, the band started their first song with only their silhouettes visible before revealing themselves to the audience with a big ol’ kickdrum.
The first few songs were like a wall of noise with a thick organ drone from Ragnhildur Gunnarsdóttir, and backing vocals being provided by every single member of the seven-piece band. The crowd were pretty bloody excited, trying to decipher every bit of banter that was thrown their way by lead singers Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar ƥórhallsson, and taking on every direction that they were given to clap along and dance. Hilmarsdóttir and ƥórhallsson took turns with the lead, but the depth of the sound made it pretty hard to pick out Hilmarsdóttir’s stilted style of singing when she was on her own, as she just couldn’t seem to compete with the instrumentation. This was fine by me as I’m not entirely on board with her exact brand of singing, but the best numbers were when Hilmarsdóttir and ƥórhallsson sang together, bringing the whole band together.
A sea of smartphones emerged in ‘Mountain Sound’ to try and capture the moment, the whole crowd singing along at the top of their lungs. The band’s repertoire does seem to be largely sing-a-long music, with their obligatory ‘hey’s and ‘na-na’s in every second song, much in the same style of The Lumineers and Mumford & Sons. I found this a bit repetitive over the course of the evening, as it’s not quite my jam, but plenty of fun at a live gig with an all-ages audience.
The band had stage presence without a lot of banter, with rapport assumed by the audience instead of being built during the gig. But even without a lot of talk or camaraderie going on between the band members, the band kept the energy up, with silver confetti being shot out into the audience during ‘Lakehouse’, giving the crowd a souvenir stuck in their hair to take home with them.
The real heroes of the night were organ/piano accordion/trumpet player Ragnhildur Gunnarsdóttir, who managed to switch instruments between just about every song, made all the boys in the audience fall in love with her and got a massive cheer for her trumpet solo in ‘Little Talks’, and drummer Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson (who I’ve only just realised has a totally awesome name as well), who kept the excitement up by totally gunning it on the drums all night and getting everyone to clap along in time with him in every song.
After a big finish with ‘Six Weeks’, the band exited the stage, with lead guitarist Brynjar Leifsson leaving his guitar playing feedback on the stage. The crowd didn’t have to cheer for long though, with the band coming almost straight back out to play ‘Skeletons’ and then finishing with ‘Yellow Light’, letting the song build and the crowd go wild until it couldn’t escalate anymore, before cutting the track completely. The whole crew came up the front to give a bow together, Leifsson lingering to take a photo of the crowd on his phone from the drum kit, before they all took off, leaving the crowd tired and happy.
It was a good night, albeit a little forgettable, but lots of fun for everyone involved. I left feeling slightly underwhelmed by frontman Ragnar ƥórhallsson and frontwoman Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, who mostly just seemed to coast, but the musical chairs that the rest of the band were playing with their instruments brightened my night, and the enthusiasm of that drummer is gonna be what sticks with me, even if I forget the rest of the gig.
Reviewer: Louisa Bulley
Photographer: Jessica Ward
[nggallery id=114]