Review
Review
Good Morning make for a great evening in Hackney
The Aussies treated Hackney's Oslo to a fantastic set loaded with overwhelming positivity and off-centre pop gems
While a huge chunk of the country’s music fans are in a field in Somerset, a respectably sized contingent have packed into a sweltering Oslo in Hackney. The draw is the return – after a five-year absence – of lovable Melbourne duo Good Morning. Not Macca or Billie Eilish levels of stardom, but the buzz in the room says plenty about the affection reserved for Liam Parsons and Stefan Blair.
It’s been touch and go for tonight. Now a five-piece, Good Morning were forced to abandon their three previous gigs after illness befell bassist James MacLeod. “He nearly died,” Parsons declares, before drawing attention to the fact that MacLeod is tonight wearing his Homerton Hospital gown as a shirt.
Three songs in, Parsons apologises for the band’s rustiness, but it’s only working in their favour. Blair and Parsons are on opposite sides of the stage, a keyboard set up in the middle in front of Joe Alexander’s drum kit. MacLeod bops around happily behind Parsons. The circular layout means they spend a lot of the gig playing across the stage to each other, giving the feeling of sitting in on an unusually accomplished rehearsal session.
Good Morning find their groove quickly, ambling their way through a litany of slacker pop gems, all of which send positive vibes bouncing around the room. A brief interlude allows Parsons to be presented with a new trilby before a one-two of ‘Garden’ and ‘Classic Quip’ has the entire place grinning from ear to ear.
Things really lift off with the utterly perfect ‘Country’ from their latest album Barnyard and Good Morning wind the evening up with a lovely rendition of fan favourite ‘$10’ but the crowd isn’t done. A surprisingly vociferous chant of “One more song” draws the quintet back to the stage for an encore of ‘Matthew Newton’. Parsons quips “See you in another five years” and they’re gone, leaving just a radiant afterglow that persists the whole way home.
