Setlists and stuff for Alpine
Hi. I'm cropping up here again, and for once with an apolitical post! I'm mainly making this post for my own reference, but it's a good chance for me to whore out a good new Melbourne band to the world. If you think the idea of an indie pop sextet with layered female vocal harmonies sounds good, then check out Alpine on their MySpace or last.fm. Yes, it's not quite the usual from this fan of post-rock, metal, jangle pop, shoegaze, and whatnot, but what really sets Alpine apart for me, and makes me think they're probably the best new band in Melbourne right now, are their amazing live shows. Phoebe and Louisa have got to be two of the most energetic and enthusiastic vocalists I've seen.
And the live shows are the point of this entry. I've snagged the printed setlist from all four of their last gigs I've seen, but I can't post them on setlist.fm yet since they aren't on musicbrainz, a database that just looks like a mess to use and I don't even know if they qualify for inclusion until the Zurich EP comes out later this year. So in lieu of that, for my personal reference and for anybody else who's interested (maybe if somebody who went to the gigs stumbles across this entry?), here are their setlists.
2010-08-17, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
This was their second of four Tuesday night residencies at the NSC. I saw them open for Dimmer at the NSC on 2009-11-12 (all I recall from that gig is Heartlove and Too Safe), and remembered how good they were on stage, so I thought I'd take Charlotte over to see them, and see how they'd progressed since 2009. We weren't able to go to the first residency gig on 2010-08-10, so we made a point of being available for this show. Since we've seen them three more times in the space of just two months, it's safe to say this gig impressed us.
1. Too Safe
2. Villages
3. Hands
4. Tough Skin
5. Small Clock
6. Thank You
7. North South East West
8. Heartlove
9. Wintercoats
10. Icypoles
In hindsight, no wonder we were so impressed at the end - the last three tracks slay live, and have become three of our favourites. The end of Icypoles is such a great way to end a show.
2010-08-24, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
Third of their residency gigs. This got off to a great start with the first opening act, Camp Camp Revolution, who were simply hilarious and made even my gay friends look straight. The other opener, Mildlife, had a pretty solid sound together, especially for a band apparently playing their first gig (never would've guessed if the frontman hadn't said so). But then on came Alpine, and they just dominated. They had heaps of energy to feed off from the crowd, and this may well be the pick of the four gigs.
1. Tough Skin
2. Heartlove
3. Icypoles
4. Small Clock
5. Thank You
6. Hands
7. North South East West
8. Too Safe
9. Wintercoats
10. Villages
At fairly short notice, we went up to Sydney for Charlotte's work and had to miss the final residency gig on 2010-08-31. We were pretty disappointed about that. Then we were sick and missed them playing a FREE gig with Deep Sea Arcade at the Espy in St Kilda on 2010-09-18! Bleh.
2010-09-24, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
Finally we got to see them again, this time unfortunately not headlining, but still as part of a sweet line-up with headliner Kimbra and fellow openers RedBerryPlum. We were glad they had enough time to perform close to a full set, and I reckon the punters got into it pretty well. We sure did! The guitar tone on Heartlove and Villages seemed a bit heavier than usual at the end, which we actually rather liked. We were pretty flattered when Louisa came and found us after Alpine's set, since she'd seen us in the audience three times now, and had a quick chat with us.
1. Too Safe
2. Tough Skin
3. Wintercoats
4. Hands
5. North South East West
6. Icypoles
7. Heartlove
8. Villages
2010-10-04, East Brunswick Club, East Brunswick, Victoria
Again Alpine were just playing support, but got enough time for almost a full set. It's hard for me to pick whether or not this gig was better than the awesome show on 2010-08-24. This show definitely had the best sound of the lot, and for the first time the keyboards seemed to get a decent spot in the mix. There were some keyboard lines that I really only noticed for the first time. Before the gig, both Phoebe and Louisa spotted us and came over for a chat with us, which was really cool - they're very nice people. Must also give a shout-out to fellow openers Seekae, who created a very cool vibe, and headliners Cloud Control, who were exceptional and really won me over with their performance (I got Cloud Control's setlist and posted it here).
1. Too Safe
2. Tough Skin
3. Wintercoats
4. Hands
5. North South East West
6. Icypoles
7. Heartlove
8. Villages
i.e. Same set as when they opened for Kimbra. It's a pretty good set for a support slot, building to a very strong final trio of songs that ram home how good Alpine are. I would like to hear Small Clock and Thank You again, though - I'm forgetting how they sound!
2010-10-08, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
Back to the NSC, which has become rather familiar of late. I prefer it as a venue (better air conditioning, no nasty sticky floor so you can actually sit down), but the sound's better at the EBC - which was immediately apparent by the keys not sounding as good as they had on Monday. Shame. It's funny; Charlotte and I had been talking about how the Too Safe/Tough Skin opening duo in the last two sets might sound even better if it were reversed, and guess what the band played. Think it worked well too. This gig was a support set just like the last two, this time for Catcall. Catcall had strong stage presence and good songs that got the crowd dancing, and the first openers, Strange Talk, play this amazingly infectious indie electropop and should be huge before long, but Alpine were the stars of the night again.
1. Tough Skin
2. Too Safe
3. Wintercoats
4. Hands
5. North South East West
6. Villages
7. Heartlove
8. Icypoles
2010-10-09, The Civic, Sydney, New South Wales
I didn't attend this gig (also a support slot for Catcall), but the band were kind enough to provide me with the setlist!
1. Too Safe
2. Hands
3. Tough Skin
4. North South East West
5. Wintercoats
6. Heartlove
7. Villages
8. Icypoles
They've got some more opening sets coming up over the next month or so at Northcote and the East Brunsy, so barring anything unforeseen, we'll be showing up to see them support Tim & Jean, The Naked And Famous, and Jinja Safari. Good times ahead! Will whack the setlists into this entry after the shows.
And the live shows are the point of this entry. I've snagged the printed setlist from all four of their last gigs I've seen, but I can't post them on setlist.fm yet since they aren't on musicbrainz, a database that just looks like a mess to use and I don't even know if they qualify for inclusion until the Zurich EP comes out later this year. So in lieu of that, for my personal reference and for anybody else who's interested (maybe if somebody who went to the gigs stumbles across this entry?), here are their setlists.
2010-08-17, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
This was their second of four Tuesday night residencies at the NSC. I saw them open for Dimmer at the NSC on 2009-11-12 (all I recall from that gig is Heartlove and Too Safe), and remembered how good they were on stage, so I thought I'd take Charlotte over to see them, and see how they'd progressed since 2009. We weren't able to go to the first residency gig on 2010-08-10, so we made a point of being available for this show. Since we've seen them three more times in the space of just two months, it's safe to say this gig impressed us.
1. Too Safe
2. Villages
3. Hands
4. Tough Skin
5. Small Clock
6. Thank You
7. North South East West
8. Heartlove
9. Wintercoats
10. Icypoles
In hindsight, no wonder we were so impressed at the end - the last three tracks slay live, and have become three of our favourites. The end of Icypoles is such a great way to end a show.
2010-08-24, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
Third of their residency gigs. This got off to a great start with the first opening act, Camp Camp Revolution, who were simply hilarious and made even my gay friends look straight. The other opener, Mildlife, had a pretty solid sound together, especially for a band apparently playing their first gig (never would've guessed if the frontman hadn't said so). But then on came Alpine, and they just dominated. They had heaps of energy to feed off from the crowd, and this may well be the pick of the four gigs.
1. Tough Skin
2. Heartlove
3. Icypoles
4. Small Clock
5. Thank You
6. Hands
7. North South East West
8. Too Safe
9. Wintercoats
10. Villages
At fairly short notice, we went up to Sydney for Charlotte's work and had to miss the final residency gig on 2010-08-31. We were pretty disappointed about that. Then we were sick and missed them playing a FREE gig with Deep Sea Arcade at the Espy in St Kilda on 2010-09-18! Bleh.
2010-09-24, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
Finally we got to see them again, this time unfortunately not headlining, but still as part of a sweet line-up with headliner Kimbra and fellow openers RedBerryPlum. We were glad they had enough time to perform close to a full set, and I reckon the punters got into it pretty well. We sure did! The guitar tone on Heartlove and Villages seemed a bit heavier than usual at the end, which we actually rather liked. We were pretty flattered when Louisa came and found us after Alpine's set, since she'd seen us in the audience three times now, and had a quick chat with us.
1. Too Safe
2. Tough Skin
3. Wintercoats
4. Hands
5. North South East West
6. Icypoles
7. Heartlove
8. Villages
2010-10-04, East Brunswick Club, East Brunswick, Victoria
Again Alpine were just playing support, but got enough time for almost a full set. It's hard for me to pick whether or not this gig was better than the awesome show on 2010-08-24. This show definitely had the best sound of the lot, and for the first time the keyboards seemed to get a decent spot in the mix. There were some keyboard lines that I really only noticed for the first time. Before the gig, both Phoebe and Louisa spotted us and came over for a chat with us, which was really cool - they're very nice people. Must also give a shout-out to fellow openers Seekae, who created a very cool vibe, and headliners Cloud Control, who were exceptional and really won me over with their performance (I got Cloud Control's setlist and posted it here).
1. Too Safe
2. Tough Skin
3. Wintercoats
4. Hands
5. North South East West
6. Icypoles
7. Heartlove
8. Villages
i.e. Same set as when they opened for Kimbra. It's a pretty good set for a support slot, building to a very strong final trio of songs that ram home how good Alpine are. I would like to hear Small Clock and Thank You again, though - I'm forgetting how they sound!
2010-10-08, Northcote Social Club, Northcote, Victoria
Back to the NSC, which has become rather familiar of late. I prefer it as a venue (better air conditioning, no nasty sticky floor so you can actually sit down), but the sound's better at the EBC - which was immediately apparent by the keys not sounding as good as they had on Monday. Shame. It's funny; Charlotte and I had been talking about how the Too Safe/Tough Skin opening duo in the last two sets might sound even better if it were reversed, and guess what the band played. Think it worked well too. This gig was a support set just like the last two, this time for Catcall. Catcall had strong stage presence and good songs that got the crowd dancing, and the first openers, Strange Talk, play this amazingly infectious indie electropop and should be huge before long, but Alpine were the stars of the night again.
1. Tough Skin
2. Too Safe
3. Wintercoats
4. Hands
5. North South East West
6. Villages
7. Heartlove
8. Icypoles
2010-10-09, The Civic, Sydney, New South Wales
I didn't attend this gig (also a support slot for Catcall), but the band were kind enough to provide me with the setlist!
1. Too Safe
2. Hands
3. Tough Skin
4. North South East West
5. Wintercoats
6. Heartlove
7. Villages
8. Icypoles
They've got some more opening sets coming up over the next month or so at Northcote and the East Brunsy, so barring anything unforeseen, we'll be showing up to see them support Tim & Jean, The Naked And Famous, and Jinja Safari. Good times ahead! Will whack the setlists into this entry after the shows.