Glide (tribute w/ Toby Martin) - live 8/14/10, Annandale Hotel, Sydney

I'm not exactly sure how this concert came to pass, but my understanding is that the surviving members of Glide approached Toby Martin (crooner for fellow Aussie's Youth Group) to collaborate for a couple of "tribute" shows wherein he would fill the shoes of the bands tragically deceased leader William Arthur.  This all took place two years ago, yet I didn't catch wind of it until a few weeks back.  For the uninitiated, Glide were complete unknowns in North America, and virtual unknowns in their native Australia.  The quartet dispensed bittersweet ruminations of love and angst in the form of incredibly melodic and thoughtful guitar-rock songs - the kind, quite frankly that come along once in a lifetime. They took a few cues from ‘80s American indie-rock, and less obviously availed themselves to a handful of suave Brit-pop strides.  The untimely 1999 death of charismatic front-man William Arthur short-circuited Glide’s career, but not without leaving behind an impressive body of work that was sensuous, engrossing, and profoundly moving.  

I'm not sure how well Glide's original performances had been documented, but instead of dishing out an obligatory live album, Arthur's musical kin had another idea in mind, namely this one.  Whether to bring a sense of closure to Glide, or merely to offer friends, family and fans a glimpse of what they were capable of, they doubly proved to be a class act on this particular night.  Coincidentally or not, Toby Martin possesses a similar timbre to Arthur and is able is able to vocally maneuver in his range.  Perfect for a one or two night stand, but I don't think anything lasting was meant to come of this collaboration.  And the best part?  Chances are your favorite Glide song is included in the setlist.  There's a bum tuning here and there, but nothing to detract from the magic - and this concert exudes plenty of just that.  This rip was taken from a video stream of the entire performance, which can be watched here. 

I had been hosting Glide's three full length's, Open Up and Croon, Disappear Here, and the posthumous Last, as well as the ep collection Shrink Wrapped Real Thing for several years.  I pulled all of them upon learning they've all been made available through iTunes Australia (which I believe can still be purchased from abroad).  As of 2010, physical copies were also still available from the band's website.  I'd hate to consider myself personally responsible for cheating them on potential sales all this time!  You can still download a fan-made b-sides and rarities compilation here.   As for this show, the setlist is as follows:

Bug/Thin Faced Man/One More Mistake/Open Up and Croon/What Do I Know?/Hole in the Middle/Fade/Something/Dream of Sammy/Wrapped in Fingers/Tangled/Line/Wake/monologue/Why You Asking?/Surfaced Euphoric/Waterfalls

Hear