The Preatures @ The Enmore Theatre, Newtown NSW Australia 02/09/2017 written by Brendan Lewis

Funky Sydney pop-rockers ‘The Preatures' grace fans at the Enmore Theatre tonight, as part of

their tour in celebration of their 2017 album of feminine power, ‘Girlhood’. The audience are

geared and ready after support band ‘Polish Club’ warmed us up with their catchy sound and

humour. Lets get this funky party started!

The Preatures emerge onto the stage to the sounds of Cakes’ ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’, setting

the groovy feels straight away, along with adoring cheering fans.

With only a slight gap after ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’, the band head into their first song of the

evening ‘I Know A Girl’. This songs’ sound took me back to the 90’s with its feel-good pop-rock

sound resembling the era, which lead singer Izzi-man Freddy Mercury (requested name by Izzi)

twirled and danced around to on stage like nobody’s watching… oh but we were, and Izzi utilising

the space on the stage moving across the front of it singing to each fan, not just to the masses.

Izzi’s charismatic stage presence struck just the right note in the audience, especially us front row

gunners.

When I asked guitarist Jack why they played ‘I Know A Girl’ up first, instead of typically the first

song off their touring album, title song ‘Girlhood’, he said it was just to mix things up and do

things a bit differently. I do admire that, although when they did launch into ‘Girlhood’ next, it did

spark a more excited cheer from the previously still crowd, now bopping away at this up-beat and

up-lifting catchy single of powerful femininity. The first song of the set was mixed adequately by

the bands’ sound mixer and all the sounds were even enough, but for the second song and

onwards, Izzi’s vocals were raised to a perfect shining level which made them do just that. The

improved sound mixing plus the songs’ natural energy and the band moving around with Izzy

showing off her charismatic moves, definitely made ‘Girlhood’ a stand out song that would’ve

been quite appropriate played first.

With only a quick thank you to the audience, the band dance right into my personal favourite

‘Somebody’s Talking’ which I’m a bit surprised they chose to play this infectious popular track so

early on in the set, but it did the right job being right where it is. This incredibly catchy hit (which I

had to resist doing the most girly bum-wiggle to), saw the audience bop around a little more like

actual dancing with everyone singing along, raising the atmosphere of the show nicely! Speaking

of atmosphere, the lighting for the previous two songs I thought were a little bit of a stretch from

atmospheric and let down the fun, groovy music. Like the icing on a cake adds that nice touch to

the cake, it can also let it down if its not done well. Luckily though the lighting was improved

sufficiently for the third song, to compliment the icing on the cake… great, now I feel like cake.

Typically at a live show the focus is mainly on the lead singer yes, but for the next two songs

‘Cruel’ and ‘Lip Balm’ with Izzy crouching down at the front of the stage connecting with her

audience at the front during ’Cruel’, Izzi shared the spot light with her fellow band members,

singing to/with them in their respected positions on the stage whilst maintaining Izzi’s groovy

dance moves. This showed some amazing showmanship and emphasised each band members

stage presence making sure each band member was just as important in the performance as Izzi.

I can’t help but notice, the audience around me WON’T SHUT UP! I thought this was a bit rude

and disrespectful to the band, especially as the band weren’t lacking any stage presence or “zaz”,

but yet the audience still spoke. But, the band weren’t going to let that ‘Mess It Up’ and the band

will “not be sad about it” “only the weak fight” …did the band see that coming or something?

‘Mess It ups’ funky-town bass lines with the band (mainly Izzi) shakin’ a tail feather to it just the

right way, along with its independence declaratory lyrics made it a great addition to the set.

Next the band play ‘I Like You’ which I’m really surprised the band slowed down their dancing

around to, seeing as I had to again resist a girly wiggle to the up-beat retro-sounding dance

provoking chorus which I thought was quite fresh and uplifting.

Apparently the band are still learning this song and need practice at it being new, but I nor anyone

else noticed any issues. The bands’ heart-felt track ‘Magick’, was beautiful and featured some

“high-school-dance” like mirror ball lights (at least how they looked to me) which apparently set

the stage curtains alight at their Melbourne show the previous night, no fire tonight though. The

lights circled around the venue, giving the song the appropriate atmospheric touch. On top of

that, Izzi’s soaring vocals were astounding and quite accurate to the recording, ‘Magick’ was a

perfectly positioned contrast in the set.

Izzi then speaks to the audience explaining what the next song ‘Cherry Ripe’ is about and the

feeling behind it …a Cherry Ripe maybe? Izzi’s voice did resonate throughout the venue

beautifully and had the audience singing along nicely during this song, but were let down slightly

by the return of dull lighting.

The dull lighting was unfortunately sustained for ‘First Night’ with Izzi doing the girly wiggle I had

to resist doing, before expressing her excitement to be back on stage and tries explaining the

show and how the next song ‘Yanada’ the band really wanted on the new album, over the top of

some guitar and bass playing which made it hard to hear Izzi. ‘Yanada’ featured a euphoric

collaboration of voices from each band member and the audience, who are surprisingly calm

despite a rather loud applause conducted by Izzi’s arm waving’s to the audience.

Talk about making a song and dance about it, ‘Ordinary’ being a fan favourite started with a good

ol’ guitar solo and got the whole crowd singing and dancing along with Izzy as if she were a

puppet master, and even got the shy, quiet, still guy next to me bopping away. Ha-ha-ha, you

thought I was completely blind didn’t you buddy? The song is then topped off with a big finale.

You thought that was the last song being a fan favourite with a big finish? Nope, the band finish

the set with ‘Better’ followed by ‘Night Machine’ then an encore of a beautiful echoing piano solo

of ‘Your Fan’ by Izzi, and finally the band’s biggest hit ‘Is This How You Feel’. All of which featuring

more groovy dancing, the return of good lighting, crowd pleasing solo’s and the loudest sing

along from the crowd during ‘Is This How You Feel’.

This was indeed a brilliant display of fantastic retro sounding pop-rock music mixed well, with

some funky-ass grooves. With some improved lighting at times and possibly a shuffle around of a

few songs in the set, and this is an ace of a show!