Portugal. The Man

Enmore Theatre, May 1

Portugal. The Man.

Photo: Rachel Murdolo

★★★

Maybe Portugal. The Man are having an identity crisis. Following their recent Grammy Award win for crossover hit Feel It Still, the Alaskan quintet seem hell-bent on proving their indie-rock cred – always with an arched brow firmly in place – in a night of surprises.

After a welcome to country by Gadigal elder Alan Madden, the lights drop, darkness falls and Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers blasts through the speakers. Not just an introductory snippet; the whole song.

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Next, Beavis and Butt-Head appear on a massive back-projection and mercilessly critique Portugal. The Man's right-on irony, challenging facial hair and other hipster affectations.

Finally, the band bound on stage. Frontman John Gourley is particularly resplendent in sunglasses, bobble-topped beanie and ski jacket to match. Duck-walking across centre stage as a swirling, lava-lamp light show drips over him and his Jazzmaster guitar, he leads the four other Men into … Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls.

It's a harbinger of how the night will play out as they proudly show off their uber-tasteful record collection, topping and tailing their own material with classics from the '60s, '70s and '80s. Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) segues into Purple Yellow Red and Blue, Creep in a T-Shirt blooms into T-Rex's Children of the Revolution, and Richie Haven's frenetic folk strum-athon Freedom is transformed into an apocalyptic electro-guitar mash-up.

Elsewhere are snatches of Black Sabbath, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, as songs merge into each other, guitars wail, lights dazzle and alienating cartoon humanoids and bondage dolls pulsate and dance on the back-projection.

It's an assault on the senses, but as the novelty wears off, immunity builds, and so does the restlessness for a tune amid the wall of noise. The band seem aware of this, and a message flashes up over the kaleidoscopic oil drips: "Don't worry, we're playing 'that song' right after this."

Ten minutes of face-melting psych freak-outs later, Feel It Still is played as promised. Of course, as true ironistas, their most accessible hit (430,277,005 listens on Spotify and counting) is introduced with the directive: "Let's get weird".

So, is this a cult indie band trying to figure out its identity following mainstream acclaim? Or maybe, after 14 years and eight albums, Portugal. The Man are so comfortable in their own skins they're just happy to get postmodern on our asses.

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Matt Teffer

Matt is multimedia editor for The Sydney Morning Herald.

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