There’s some solid festival vibes as we hit St. Kilda’s Catani Gardens for Ocean Alley’s opening night of their Love Balloon tour. Now, that might be because I generally refuse to attend festivals outside of southern Europe in summer (or Coachella) so the fact it’s blazing hot and a little sandy is definitely my idea of a festival, but the energy is higher and the venue is busier than I’d expect this early given Melbourne decided to pull out a scorcher (and it’s Hottest 100 day).
Ruby Fields opens the afternoon with her first live show of the year. Despite confessing she’s recovering from a cold, she delivers a blasting set of mostly new and unreleased songs. They receive a warm welcome from the crowd and get the afternoon off to a strong start.
Now the main reason I’m here so early is because I’ve been chasing the opportunity to see Rainbow Kitten Surprise for a few years now and from the size of the crowd, I’m not the only one who came early to catch them. Ocean Alley have always enjoyed an incredibly loyal local fan base and the additional draw of two international acts on the cards has definitely motivated them to show up early. Ela Melo’s distinctive, almost jazz like vocals shine and she’s definitely feeding off the crowd today too holding her own to give a spectacular performance despite the blistering heat. The crowd really brought it for final track It’s Called: Freefall and while their 9 song set is a little shorter than their full show I definitely feel like this is an awesome bonus gift we’re getting. I honestly don’t think we could have asked for a better lead in to Ocean Alley.
The final support are Essex’s Nothing but Thieves. Thankfully as this point the sun drops behind the clouds and a breeze sweeps in revitalising the crowd somewhat. Nothing but Thieves have generally found their way into my playlists over the years but I was truly impressed with their live set. The band are tight and on great form (despite a considerable lack of sleep since landing from London the previous evening) and Conor Mason’s powerful vocals really bring their records to life. They seem genuinely surprised that so many of the crowd knew their songs and I hope from their vantage point they can see some of the many Nothing But Thieves T-shirts dotted throughout the crowd.
Finally we head into the distinctive groove of Ocean Alley, lorded over by a stunning sunset. There’s something about their reggae infused funk that is just made for perfect summer days like this. The setlist weaves in and out of their latest release Love Balloon (which saw 4 tracks hit the hottest 100 too) and their popular releases from their back catalogue, including, of course 2018’s Confidence, the track that truly propelled them into the limelight.
Opening song Tangerine, their first single from Love Balloon (and one of my personal favourites from the album) receives a strong crowd response, as does Yellow Mellow. I quite liked that they just tucked this one in there 7 tracks into the set. It shows a confidence (ha) in their new material that they don’t feel they need to rely on their previously successful tracks as lynchpins to the whole show. However, crowd energy and vibes remain high right through to their encore of First Blush, Love Balloon and Drenched.
There are also some live debuts in the set too with Thru Everything, Down the Line and Ain’t no Use seeing their first live performances and the hour and a half set definitely manages to cover everything an Ocean Alley fan could hope for. The band seem in high spirits, giving a smooth self-assured performance that sets strong expectations for the remainder of their tour.
I’ve seen Ocean Alley live before and always enjoyed them, but something felt different this time around. It’s definitely the biggest Ocean Alley show I’ve been to, but the crowd felt oddly captivated in a way that doesn’t usually happen in venues like this. There was virtually no chatter and hardly anyone wandering around during the set; everyone, whether they were quietly sitting watching the screens or dancing and singing along, seemed magically swept away in Ocean Alley’s sound. It felt like you were witnessing something quite special.
You can grab tickets to the remaining dates of the Love Balloon Tour here.