Fresh off the back of releasing their new album 3AM (La La La), Confidence Man are on the road delivering delightful Australian eurotrash electro-pop to the masses. Izzy Morris headed down to Rock City for the band's triumphant return to Nottingham...
It’s not often that I book a day off work for the day after a gig, but I think the anticipated arrival of Confidence Man to town is certainly a good enough reason to do so. The Australian four-piece have developed an impressive reputation as an out-of-this world, joyous force on stage, with a mission statement to get you dancing your socks off. I thought I’d spare my feet the trouble on Friday morning and welcome in a long weekend with one of the best acts on the circuit.
Before Confidence Man took to the stage, and after a set from NYC indie-electro support act FCUKERS, a loading screen illuminated the stage, with Sugar Bones and Janet Planet’s effortlessly cool moves playing on a loop. The feel-good was charging up as everybody headed to the bar to grab all the drinks they’d be too busy to get once the action kicked in and a palpable excitement filled the room. A lot of the audience members around me were repeat offenders, and knew exactly how much of a force they’d be hit with for the next hour-and-a-half or so. It’d become clear to any friends they had tagging along for the ride what exactly had brought them crawling back for more in due course.
Summer anthem Now U Do sent the night off to a flying start. All of a sudden, a buzz spread through the venue, creating that festival feeling. It doesn’t matter that Christmas is around the corner – for one night only, July was back in the room. Janet and Sugar burst into life with perfectly in sync choreography – a defining feature of Confidence Man shows. They manage to exude this visceral - you guessed it - confidence, and sense of fun, channelling all the best parts of making a dance routine with your mates in the playground at school into this incredibly chic package. I genuinely don’t think that it’s possible to not have an absolute blast in the capable hands of Confidence Man.
The set list celebrated the very best of their new album 3AM (La La La), but some Con Man classics still dazzled the Rock City crowd. Does It Make You Feel Good? already feels like a timeless dance record, and their re-imagining of fan favourite Toy Boy into All My People feels just as fresh and exciting as the original with an extra boost of vibrancy. Janet and Sugar strutted their stuff across the stage with flashing neon lyrics behind them to reinforce this absolute ear worm.
No Confidence Man gig would be right without Janet’s hypnotising hairography, and a good old serving of acrobatics. Sugar flipped Janet all about the shop throughout the course of the evening in some ridiculously impressive sequences, including at one point where he sustained her weight with just his legs still sort of standing up. If I ever get a personal trainer, that’s 100% going to be one of my end goals.
The visuals projected onto the backdrop kept the surreal, over-saturated world they created in motion throughout the night. Animated pigeons, gigantic sculptures of middle fingers and badgers flooded the screen behind Janet and Sugar’s moves and the shadowy masked figures of Reggie Goodchild and Clarence McGuffie on production and drums. Their larger than life black hats are attached to massive willowy veils during their performance, which somehow do not at all dampen their ability to play incredibly well. During the frequent breaks for costume changes (and instrumental bangers in the form of Firebreak and BREAK IT DOWN (ON THE BASELINE)) the pair kept the momentum going. And on that subject, the crowd was naturally pleased to see Janet’s LED cone bra, a la Madonna, return alongside Sugar Bones’ matching LED shoulder pads – an ensemble that’s quickly becoming an iconic staple.
Amidst some of these incredibly well-oiled and increasingly familiar routines though was their brand new material. Blood dripped from Sugar’s mouth during SICKO, a track which offers something sonically quite different to some of the more upbeat, funked up tracks they’ve got on offer. The droning synth patterns on this track bring in an edgy, 90s tone for a beat, allowing a more grey-scale version of the band to come forth for a moment within the set. It’s brilliant to see the band experiment with these different styles and create light and shade.
BREAKBEAT got the crowd waving from side to side shouting ‘HEY! HO!’ and for SO WHAT, Janet climbed onto Sugar’s shoulders which immediately prompted almost half of the crowd to do the same creating scenes reminiscent of UK festival fields, minus the bucket hats. While most audience members weren’t clued up on the choreo (though for some tracks, it felt like enough were), Confidence Man continually inspired the crowd to get involved any which way they could. When you ooze that level of cool, it’s only natural to want to be a part of it.
Once again, Confidence Man managed to pack Melbourne’s sunshine rays into the lighting rig at Rock City, injecting a new lease of life into Nottingham’s music fans. The four-piece show no sign of slowing down and continue to prove that they have mastered the art of the live show. In their own words, they really are “hot sexy beautiful, Crazy Sexy Cool” and I just can’t get enough. No notes. Just please come back again soon, so I can get my fix of technicolour dance magic.
Confidence Man performed at Rock City on 21st November 2024, with support from Fcukers.
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