In the SXSW hangover, it feels like nearly every band makes their way to either Los Angeles or New York City immediately after the festival and both cities have an abundance of bands more than usual. Just as hard it is to stick out at a massive showcase like SXSW, it is just as difficult to make a mark in the big cities the days after. For most bands, that difficulty can be a factor in reassessing themselves as a live band or realize they could just be too tired to keep on going. As someone who has seen this happen to bands nearly every year after Austin's favorite festival, it is a bit difficult to give a proper review or allow some amnesty, that is, unless the band is someone like Gold Fields. Gold Fields are an electro-rock / neo-New Wave band from Australia that combine elements of New Order, Two Door Cinema Club, Friendly Fires and Duran Duran. In the wake of SXSW, the Aussie band made their maiden voyage to the Big Apple for two shows - on Tuesday night at Brooklyn venue Glassland and Manhattan's Mercury Lounge. As their set started at 10:15 p.m., it was as if a bomb went off in the venue and immediately, Gold Fields proved they were unlike any band you had seen play the intimate venue before. With the packed room moving as if it was a Saturday night at the cities biggest and best club, the showmanship Gold Fields have on stage is simply uncanny. If one could bottle their energy and sell it, they would make a fortune. Drummer Ryan D’Sylva is simply a lunatic as how he plays his set, with his body moving as fast as the speed of sound it is amazing he does not pass out of exhaustion behind his kit. The band's charismatic singer Mark Robert Fuller knows how to get a crowds attention dancing and running around on stage as if his life depended on it. Yet the band's dance-oriented sound is far too grand and massive for small venues like Mercury Lounge and that is thanks in part to guitarist Vin Anadar, bassist Luke Peldys and percussionist / keyboardist Rob Clifton. Together Gold Fields are one of the most impressive live band's I personally have ever witnessed and one of the most impressive bands you will ever experience. In a set highlighted by their music and their sound, Gold Fields also performed a superb cover of Underworld's classic "Born Slippy," that had everyone in the room in awe. With only a four song EP under their belt, it will be a grand anticipation to hear what they have next.
