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THE CAT EMPIRE
+ Steph Strings
Twilight At Taronga 2024
@ Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney,
29th February 2024
(Live Review)

Review and photos by Alec Smart’s (@alecsmart_fotos)

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The Cat Empire, Twilight at Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, Thursday 29 February 2024

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The Cat Empire performed a sold-out concert at Twilight at Taronga, supported by singer-guitarist Steph Strings. The stunning show was part of the annual late summer sunset concert series that take place in the harbourside music amphitheatre of historic Taronga Zoo.

Due to the award-winning band’s 25-years of enduring popularity, a second show was added the following night to cater to demand for tickets, which subsequently also sold out.

As the night’s opener, Steph Strings, ascended the stage with her instruments, there were murmurs across the crowd that we might encounter a thunderstorm.

Specks of rain fell and ominous-looking clouds began forming across the harbour, and with the sweltering 32 degrees heat and high humidity, a cool shower might have been welcome. However, you must always be wary with Sydney’s propensity for lightning storms – Taylor Swift’s first of four outdoor concerts the week before was delayed for safety reasons after it was lashed by a thunderstorm – so you have to be careful what you wish for.

Thankfully, the rain gods resisted the temptation to douse the crowd, and, as the night cooled with the setting of the sun, a fantastic evening’s entertainment was enjoyed by all.

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Steph Strings, Twilight at Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, Thursday 29 February 2024

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Steph Strings plays acoustic guitar and sings whist tapping her foot on a percussion stomp box. She enhances some of her instrumental numbers with a cradled harmonica. Originally from Melbourne (now a resident of Philip Island), Steph revealed she only started performing live three years ago, after abandoning her studies to be a sports scientist. Wise choice.

Steph is the main support for The Cat Empire on this Australian national tour, and she previously spent seven months touring Europe with them in 2022-3. (She’s also back in Sydney on June 28 for a solo show, performing at Oxford Arts Factory in Darlinghurst.)

Steph has a pleasant singing voice and an easy manner, and soon had the crowd joining in the choruses of her original compositions. She alternates between complicated finger-picking and rapidly strummed chords, occasionally slapping the guitar’s hollow body for percussive effect.

For her second composition, Antigone, she announced, “This is the song I would walk out to if I was a WWE fighter!” [WWE = entertainment wrestling]. She dedicated her instrumental tune San Remo to Australian musician John Butler, whom she joked was her “husband in another life”, and revealed it was a reply to his song Ocean, both of which feature intricate finger-picking.

She finished her 40-minute set with barnstormer Lion, her latest release (see video here), which she dedicated to the animals in the neighbouring Taronga Zoo environs, adding, “We are all lions, meant to live in a wild and fierce way!”

Steph later joined the Cats onstage for their second-last number Rock ‘n’ Roll.

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The Cat Empire, Twilight at Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, Thursday 29 February 2024

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The Cat Empire are on the prowl again after a final series of concerts with the original line-up ended at Byron Bay Bluesfest in Easter 2022.

Thereafter, a reinvigorated version of the band, featuring co-founders Felix Riebl (singer-guitarist) and Ollie McGill (pianist), recruited new members, wrote new songs and released the album Where The Angels Fall in August 2023. [Amnplify previously promoted the album here].

Six of the night’s 19-song set were drawn from the latest album.

The new recruits are all outstanding talents gifted with their own creative skills and a pedigree of collaborations with awesome artists going back years.

They include the multi-award-winning, bad-ass bassist Grace Barbé; powerful percussionist Neda Rahmani; dynamic drummer Daniel Farrugia; and terrific trumpeter Lazaro Numa.

The Cat Empire, originally formed in 1999 in Melbourne, have a solid track record of amazing live performances and diverse, danceable melodies. They mix inter-continental styles, blending Caribbean ska, Afro-Cuban rhythms, jazz-funk, flamenco and Latino rock in a fusion of up-tempo party music.

With nine studio albums, four EPs and 42 singles showcasing their varied repertoire, plus live albums and music videos, they’re not short of song-writing talent, much of which is attributable to dynamic frontman Felix Riebl.

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The Cat Empire, Twilight at Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, Thursday 29 February 2024

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Felix plays guitars and occasional percussion, and although he’s a master at lifting the crowd’s collective spirits through his animated stage presence, as well as being co-creator of the majority of the Cats’ music, he doesn’t completely dominate.

Instead, he steps back when others take over vocal duties or perform solos on their respective instruments.

For this he was ably assisted by bassist Grace Barbé who sang In My Pocket in her native Creole; Lazaro Numa who sang the Soneros de Verdad classic, A Buena Vista, in its original Spanish; and magnificent melodies on the ivories by pianist Ollie McGill, arguably the musical soul of the band.

Mark Hosking, rhythm guitarist from Perth progressive metal band Karnivool, joined the Cats onstage for Owl. He returned later for the encore, when Steph Strings also participated on Rock ‘n’ Roll, which began as a beautiful duo between her and Ollie McGill on guitar and piano, respectively, before the full band kicked in.

Perhaps the highlights of the concert, which invigorated an enthusiastic all-ages crowd from the onset, were old favourites Hello, a jazzed-up version of the lead single from the band’s debut album Cat Empire in 2003, and the night’s jubilant closer The Chariot (from the same album).

Altogether a spectacular night that demonstrated The Cat Empire continues to reign, their triumphant roar louder than ever!

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The Cat Empire, Twilight at Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, Thursday 29 February 2024

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Set List

Thunder Rumbles
How To Explain?
Oscar Wilde
In My Pocket (sung in Creole)
Dance The Night Away
West Sun
The Lost Song
Fishies
Buena Vista (Soneros de Verdad cover, sung in Spanish)
Two Shoes
Owl
Brighter Than Gold
Be With You Again
Steal The Light
Still Young

Encore:

Hello
La Bamba/Twist & Shout
Rock ‘n’ Roll
The Chariot

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The Cat Empire, Twilight at Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, Thursday 29 February 2024

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Check out Alec Smart’s (@alecsmart_fotos) full gallery of this event HERE

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Keep up with TWILIGHT AT TARONGA
WEBSITE – FACEBOOK

Keep up with THE CAT EMPIRE
WEBSITE

Keep up with STEPH STRINGS
WEBSITE

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The Cat Empire, Twilight at Taronga Zoo, Mosman, Sydney, Australia. Photo: Alec Smart, Thursday 29 February 2024

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Press Release 29th January 2024 (below) HERE

TWILIGHT AT TARONGA 2024
SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
Starts this Friday February 2
with MEG MAC

Six SOLD OUT shows
across the series

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Photo credit: MACLAY HERIOT

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TWILIGHT AT TARONGA
2024 SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

Tickets on sale now from twilightattaronga.org.au

Proceeds contribute to the Litter Free Oceans campaign

FRIDAY 2 FEBRUARY
Meg Mac | Gates 6pm SELLING FAST!
Supported by Surely Shirley

SATURDAY 3 FEBRUARY
Emma Memma | Lil’ Twilight – 10am SELLING FAST!
MC Benny Time

SATURDAY 3 FEBRUARY
Bjorn Again | Gates 6pm SOLD OUT

SUNDAY 4 FEBRUARY
Bjorn Again | Gates 6pm

FRIDAY 9 FEBRUARY
Australian Rock Collective | Gates 6pm SELLING FAST!
Supergroup featuring members of Spiderbait, Powderfinger, Jet and You Am I

SATURDAY 10 FEBRUARY
Comedy Gala | Gates 6pm
Featuring Celia Pacquola, Dave Hughes, Nikki Britton, Ivan Aristeguieta and MC Daniel Connell

SUNDAY 11 FEBRUARY
John Butler | Gates 6pm SOLD OUT
Supported by Velvet Trip

FRIDAY 16 FEBRUARY
Ball Park Music | Gates 6pm SOLD OUT
Supported by Ruby Jackson

SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY
The Waifs | Gates 6pm SOLD OUT
Supported by Felicity Urquhart and Josh Cunningham

THURSDAY 22 FEBRUARY
Drag Gala | Gates 6pm
Featuring Karen From Finance, Art Simone, Spankie Jackzon plus Jojo Zaho, Maxi Shield and many more!

SATURDAY 24 FEBRUARY
James Morrison’s ‘From Swing To Soul’ | Gates 6pm

THURSDAY 29 FEBRUARY
The Cat Empire | Gates 6pm SOLD OUT
Supported by Steph Strings

FRIDAY 1 MARCH
The Cat Empire | Gates 6pm SOLD OUT
Supported by Steph Strings

SATURDAY 2 MARCH
Zindzi & The Zillionaires | Lil’ Twilight – 10am
Supported by The Vegetable Plot

SATURDAY 2 MARCH
The Whitlams | Gates 6pm SELLING FAST!
Featuring The Living End’s Scott Owen
Supported by Fanny Lumsden

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AMNPLIFY – DB