Tame Impala Played to a Maskless, Full-Capacity Crowd in Australia

Live concerts and music festivals have been underway in Australia and New Zealand since last December, as COVID-19 numbers in both of those countries remain in the single digits. Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala recently returned to the stage, playing an entire concert to a maskless, full-capacity crowd in Perth last Friday and Saturday as Tame Impala Sound System.

Consisting of only three of Tame Impala’s touring members, Parker, Jay Watson and Dominic Simper, Tame Impala Sound System is a much more minimal affair, with the group utilizing synthesizers, samplers, drum machines and a DJ mixer over their typical bass, guitars and drum kits. Tame Impala Sound System made their official debut last year for an NPR Tiny Desk Concert.

“Wielding their overflowing arsenal of synths, sequencers and samplers to rework and reimagine tracks from the Tame Impala discography and beyond, Tame Impala Sound System is a pulsating, fully live and organic, free-flowing digital jam out,” Parker said in a statement obtained by Consequence of Sound.

Although Tame Impala tours live as a group, Parker is the only artist present on the project’s recordings. Tame Impala’s latest studio album The Slow Rush was released last year, and saw Parker depart from his usual psychedelic sound into one rooted in 1990s nostalgia.

Last summer Tame Impala released a new music video for “Is It True” from The Slow Rush. Parker also purchased the recording studio known as “Wave House” last August, which is where Tame Impala recorded their iconic studio albums Currents and Innerspeaker.

Setlist

Apocalypse Dreams
Endors Toi
Keep on Lying
Nangs
Borderline
Daffodils (Mark Ronson cover)
Patience
Breathe Deeper
Music to Walk Home By
Gossip
One More Year
Beverly Laurel
Reality in Motion
Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind?
Thunderstruck
Let It Happen
Is It True
Glimmer
The Less I Know the Better

Photo Credit: Kalyn Oyer