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Out of the Ball Park – 'Puddinghead' Tour Review

Image by UC Live photographer Mel Morris
Image by UC Live photographer Mel Morris

Australian five-piece band Ball Park Music performed at the University of Canberra on Friday 4th April. The venue was able to accommodate a crowd of over 400 people without feeling too claustrophobic. Due to their immense popularity amongst university students, the ‘up close and personal gig’ sold out rather quickly. 16/04/2014

The album Puddinghead was released on same day as their stopover in Canberra via mediums such Stop Start and Intertia.

Image by UC Live photographer Mel Morris
Image by UC Live photographer Mel Morris

This brand spanking new record is the follow up to their second album Museum which was released in 2012. Lead vocals and guitarist Sam Cromack recently turned 19 and for someone so young he is compiling quite a list of achievements. In fact, most of the people in attendance were barely older than he was.

Standout performances included She Only Loves Me When I’m There, the first single they released from their most recent album. They also played It’s Nice To Be Alive, which was a major crowd pleaser. Other notable mentions include Sad Rude Future Dude and Struggle Street.

Interestingly, a majority of their set list was from their first album Happiness and Surrounding Suburbs, arguably their most popular record to date. It seemed odd as this tour was meant to be celebrating the release of their latest album, Puddinghead. However, there is nothing wrong with breathing new life into old songs.

Speaking of which, Ball Park Music played a daring cover of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen to wrap up the evening. Overall, it was well received by the crowd as the atmosphere became electric, but not everyone was impressed by the stunt.

“No one should ever attempt to play Bohemian Rhapsody except Queen,” said concert-goer Anneke Knol. “They didn’t do it justice.”

It was Knol’s second time seeing Ball Park Music live in concert and she enjoyed the throwback to their first album.

“Their first album was amazing and clearly those songs still resonate with the crowd today,” she said. “Ball Park’s second album, however, was pretty mediocre … Puddinghead was kind of in the middle.”

Image Credit: http://www.heyaudiocollective.com/2014/04/02/ball-park-music-puddinghead-tour/
Puddinghead Album Cover
Image Credit: http://www.heyaudiocollective.com/2014/04/02/ball-park-music-puddinghead-tour/

Every so often a member of the crowd would would imitate the call of an owl and this went on for the entirety of the show. It seemed to be a salute to the album cover of Puddinghead which features the head of a barn owl.

Although the warm-up acts of Holy Holy and Papa vs Pretty caused the show to run fifteen minutes behind schedule, it was a worthwhile delay. Judging by the crowd’s reaction, Ball Park Music lived up fully to their expectations.

Text by Leanne Duck.

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