Live Review: The Paper Kites

For a humble band from Melbourne, The Paper Kites have an impressively large fan base. The five-piece were a good fit for Adelaide Festival, with their Riverbank Palais performance drawing a substantial Friday evening crowd. This alone was impressive, considering the number of competing events, including the WOMADelaide opening night that was happening across town.

The group released two albums in 2018 - On The Train Ride Home and On The Corner Where You Live - meaning they were probably itching to play a long set. On this occasion, however, they were limited to fixed window of an hour and 15 minutes, which didn’t leave room for an encore.

Singer/guitarist Sam Bentley has an intense performance style that is largely dispelled by his jovial between-song banter. “By all accounts, we’re on a boat. Welcome to our boat party,” he joked at one point. At another he invited us to request a song, before replying, “we probably won’t play it, but it’s worth a try”. Being International Women’s Day, keyboardist/guitarist Hannah Cameron (standing in for Christina Lacy) was also given a shout-out. 

While most songs were very well received, it was clear which ones were favourites – their hit Bloom brought large squeals of delight.

To mix things up a little, Arms was performed with the stage lights turned off (allowing us to soak in the backdrop), while Paint was performed with band in a huddle around Bentley and his acoustic guitar. 

While The Paper Kites are mesmerising overall, their songs only occasionally reach amazing heights - although the astounding number of listens they have had on Spotify indicate that plenty may disagree.