Thursday 7 June 2012

The Temper Trap @ Great Escape Festival, Brighton

The Temper Trap need no introduction, but they're getting one anyway...
They are an, hmm shall we say, Indie Pop Rock band all the way from Down Under. Frontman Dougy Mandagi was busking in Melbourne when he met guitarist Jonathan Aherne. Six years later after they collected a few more band members along the way The Temper Trap was born.


The Temper Trap were one of the headliners at this year's Great Escape Festival, and played Brighton Dome on the Friday night. Their unique and mesmerizingly haunting sound was perfectly suited to the Dome's impressive acoustics. 
They played a setlist mixed with old favourites and brand new songs from their upcoming album. There was a lull in energy from the crowd in the middle of the set as the band showcased several new songs in a row. A few complaints were coming from the crowd that they wanted to hear more 'crowd pleasers'. The new songs were beautiful, and sound as if they are as high a standard as ever but a live show at a festival is NOT the place to debut new stuff! Crowds can't get into it, and when it's one after the other, and the beers have been flowing, people get pretty pissed (off).
When they did play favourites like 'Science of Fear', 'The Drum Song', and classic 'Sweet Disposition' the atmosphere was electric. Dougy's voice echoed around the room accompanied by the beautiful chanting of the overexcited crowd.
Each song was accompanied by a uniquely created light show that ranged from dim shimmers across the stage floor for the ballads to full blown strobe lighting for the more up tempo tracks. My personal favourite moment was during The Drum Song when the drum skins were covered in water so as they beat down on them the droplets were swirling around in the air bathed in the intergalactic green light. Dope.

Aside from the lapse in the middle, The Temper Trap played a beautiful, spacey set that spiced things up at the Great Escape.

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