Thursday, August 6, 1998

Savage Garden party hearty

On disc, Savage Garden is one of the brightest new lights in the pop music constellation. On stage, they're not there just yet.

The Aussie duo of Darren Hayes on vocals and Daniel Jones on keys and guitar produced a debut disc that's a spellbinding collection of songs that evokes images of the very best of '80s Euro-pop combined with the tasty soul that we'd get from Michael Jackson when he was actually working studio magic.

Tuesday night, they brought this immaculate studio conception to life in front of a couple of thousand fans at the Congress Centre and the performance was surprising and disappointing in the same breath.

Led by Hayes' gymnastic lead vocals, the group quickly laid to rest any thought that they might just be studio babies.

They cracked the energy barrier straight off the get-go and never let up during a fast-paced 75-minute set.

But for a band who's currency is deliciously concise production, the badly blended sound mix of this show quickly scuttled the possibility of this being a memorable evening.

But despite the obliterated vocals, Hayes rocked out with a ferocity that paid homage to heroes like George Michael and Simon LeBon. He was a man who prowled the stage with a vengeance that had the wall of females up front in primo squeal mode.

In their own turn, the group was beefed up to a total of seven -- including two powerful female backup singers.

And as a whole, the presentation had a maturity and authority you don't often see with a band that's only just hit the record stores.

The thing to most admire about this bunch was they've really seemed to be able to replicate all the good aspects found within the sound of Tears For Fears, Wham, Talk Talk, Duran Duran, Blamange, OMD and Ultravox in a live package that also pulls heavily from the funky textures of the likes of Prince -- witness the deadly groove of Break Me, Shake Me and Carry On Dancing.

On the down side, the nasty mix married with the shrill shrieks of delight from the crowd literally drowned out every significant line uttered on I Want You, To The Moon And Back and to a lesser degree the silky smooth closer Truly, Madly, Deeply.

Despite the flaws, the energy displayed proved that there's cause to hope for a better show next time.

Set List