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Both sides of Sun Kil Moon

CONCERT

Sun Kill Moon

The Bakery

Wednesday, March 25

Review Harvey Rae

2.5

Inside a minute of hitting the stage on Wednesday, Ohio folk-rock cult figure Mark Kozelek had shown off both the cantankerous and amusing traits he's renowned for.

Emerging late and with no support act, anticipation and patience were already on high alert when he demanded all industrial fans and air conditioning be turned off. He made light of it, complaining the noise was distracting, but it was clear the Sun Kil Moon frontman had an obsessive-compulsive streak to be reckoned with.

The packed Bakery was soon a sweatbox alleviated only by the fact that plenty of people left early over the course of Kozelek's three-and-a-half hour set, which was equal parts endurance test, bad taste humour and the odd moment of inspiration.

His cover of jazz standard Send in the Clowns would have been apt had it been the opener, but coming after Mariette, an oddity from his 2013 collaboration with Desertshore, it made little sense.

Kozelek roamed the stage as his two-piece band of a drummer and keyboardist held down bizarre new arrangements that weren't a patch on the originals. A shame, because Kozelek is a great guitar player, which highlighted on new track The Possum and I Watched the Film the Song Remains the Samefrom 2014 best album contender, Benji.

A song about Nando's chicken got plenty of laughs but pushed the boundaries of bad taste, while his infamous song about rivals the War on Drugs isn't as funny as he thinks. Touching moments including Micheline were ruined by excessive reverb on the vocals, making the tender sentiments behind the songs indiscernible.

Numerous attempts at crowd interaction tested patience further in the Bakery sweatbox. Getting the bouncer on stage to play drums was fun but the set's never-ending final half hour was hampered by the 48-year-old Kozelek getting creepy with a 20-something music teacher he'd invited on stage.

Leaving the venue after midnight, opinions were wildly divided between those who'd made it to the end. Kozelek is an enigma and certainly didn't leave his fans wanting.

"What more could you ask," someone said. About an hour less, actually.