One song in and Les Savy Fav’s mercurial frontman is living up to his reputation, swinging from lighting rigs and trying to grab his own tongue mid-lyric. This is a man for whom the verb ‘overshadow’ is neither a criticism nor an occasional trait but a natural state of being: Tim Harrington overshadows the same way the rest of us breathe or move. Hats off to Wichita, then, for finding supports capable of cordoning off their own patch of memory tonight. They might not share the headliner’s carnivalesque spirit, but Cloud Nothings knock out their art-punk power-pop with comparable energy. Their powerful rhythm section negotiate shifting time signatures without losing grip of Dylan Baldi’s canny melodies: think teenage Superchunk, and get excited.
Sky Larkin don’t offer the same surprises, but only because anyone with a taste for loud guitars and big choruses should be familiar with these premiere practitioners by now already. Katie Harkin is warm and funny between songs, punchy during them, and with Still Windmills as a parting shot, they’re developing quite the golden arsenal.
And then Harrington bounds on stage in a poncho, spitting and undressing and offering a trade – one manner of performance forfeited for another. Eccentricity replaces actually singing all the songs, but it’s a swap all are happy to accept. The rest of the band are steadfast and tight, ensuring Harrington’s antics don’t throw proceedings irrevocably off course as he bathes in beer and threatens a garrotting each time his mic lead wraps around the crowd. It’s visceral and exhausting without ever detracting from the exuberance of sing-alongs like Let’s Get Out of Here and howl-alongs like What Would Wolves Do. When we hit the curfew, Harrington remains amongst us, dishing out hugs and thanking people individually for coming – a civil sign-off to a rambunctious riot.
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