Two mates having a blast: The Avalanches deliver a sample of heaven

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Two mates having a blast: The Avalanches deliver a sample of heaven

By Mikey Cahill

LIVE MUSIC

The Avalanches

★★★★★

Sidney Myer Music Bowl, April 23

For a plethora of Victorians, The Avalanches were the divine set of footprints in the sand carrying us during lockdown. The core duo of Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi drip-fed seven singles from their third album, We Will Always Love You, then threw a free loungeroom party for Melbourne when we were at our most needy.

The Avalanches play live at the Music Bowl.

The Avalanches play live at the Music Bowl.Credit: Mikey Cahill

Tonight, they united The Bowl by focusing on the enduring power of voices in a hive-mind two-man DJ set on an almighty sound system. I’ve never been to a gig where even the chairs want to dance — the bass reverberations cause them to comically creep forward and knock over a few G&Ts. The crowd of mainly Gen Xers go absolutely loco for every drop, every kickdrum, every sprinkled vocal, every red and blue projection on the giant LED screens.

The first song of their own The Avalanches play is The Divine Chord, which feels appropriate after beginning with The End by The Doors blended with Orbital’s Halcyon and On and On. Neither speak but the message is clear: the wait is over — it’s go time, people.

Chater claps his hands and bops like a benevolent tech CEO with a lucrative side-hustle while Di Blasi’s George Costanza jumps and unexpected theremin playing are topped only by his baseball home-run hit during Because I’m Me. They’re having a blast up there, two mates back together after a rough 2020.

Riffing on the theme of voices floating in the ether they swirl in Denzel Curry, Sampa The Great, Tricky, Kurt Vile, Rivers Cuomo from their own work as well as samples of Brian Wilson, Willy Wonka and Freddie Mercury (just because).

Throughout the galloping 90-minute mix, we throw our arms about wildly, emancipated from home detention, back on our own two dancing feet.

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