Saturday night was a night of firsts for me. First review to write for ITM. First gig at The Bakery. Luckily I was with a friend who knew where to go or I would have been wandering around the block until the music started. That may be a reflection of my complete inability to read a map, because it did say “behind Metros”. Just not “up the alley beside Metros”.

First time I’ve had my ID checked since I can’t remember when. Thanks very much to the guy on the door for the ego boost, always flattering for a 30+ female to get ID checked. Although my so-called friends were very dubious that I could have looked less than 18 and said it must have been a dark alley.

It was the first time I’ve seen Breakestra, having missed their set at Good Vibrations earlier this year. They were so good on Saturday night; I’m kicking myself that I missed seeing them before.

There were no session times posted so we arrived just after 9pm and the outside bar was still quite empty. We overheard somebody saying the support DJs Dan the Man and Nathan J weren’t starting until 10pm so we ducked across the road for a quick pint.
When we got back the inside stage area/bar was just being opened up and we heard that Breakestra weren’t coming on until midnight.

If I’d known that I could have had a longer nanna nap! I was suffering from a bit too much sun, having spent the day on the South Perth foreshore watching the trials for a certain air race that was being staged.

The request to “dress funky formal” sent me into wardrobe crisis. Lots of people did step up though, with funky hats, suits and dresses in abundance. And although some may not have dressed very funky, I think everybody left feeling VERY funky. The crowd was definitely eclectic, with people from a variety of age groups in evidence.

One of the speaker stacks was cutting out while the support DJs were playing but fortunately that gremlin was taken care of and there were no sound problems during Breakestra’s performance. They took to the stage at 12pm and so began a soul/funk/breaks fusion journey around the US, with Dr (Miles) Tackett on bass announcing each destination as they launched into the next tune.

It was the kind of wonderful funk music where you just have to plant your feet and shake your hips & butt. Each song featured a fantastic solo from one of the 7 band members on a different instrument (unfortunately Mixmaster Wolf was unable to take the stage for this performance). I wouldn’t describe myself as a big fan of the flute solo but the “Funky Penguin” James King had me enthralled.

Sometimes it was like being in some kind of Spicks & Specks “name that tune” segment as they sampled, i.e. played live, various tunes that I knew, the names of which remained frustratingly on the tip of my tongue. OK, I know that a reggae style “Ring of Fire” homage to the Man in Black sounds weird but it worked so well. During another track Dr Tackett used a bow on the bass to come up with a sound that was reminiscent of Warren Ellis from the Dirty Three.

I now have the biggest girl-crush on guest vocalist Choklate. I thought she lived up to her billing as “soul diva” and the audience loved her. Her voice was definitely soulful and she let rip with a few sexy growls too. I hope we get to see and hear more of her.

Breakestra played for about an hour and a half, including encore. If you would describe yourself as “loving music” and aren’t a fiend for one particular genre, you really should see them when they are here next. To paraphrase my friend, we need Breakestra in Perth for a permanent Sunday session so that everybody can go to work on Monday smiling and happy. Um, what? People go to work on Mondays?