“Lime Cordiale”, a Sydney band, on Saturday 27th September, lured West End’s Queensland Symphony Orchestra across the river to perform with them at the Fortitude Music Hall, down the Valley.
The concert started with “Money”:
“all you want is money”..
“you know you’ll never reach that pot of gold”…
”you just put that big old smile on”.
It set the tone for a laid-back, easy-listening style. Their ballads have lyrics with a punch.
The standing crowd packed the Music Hall and responded cheerily to Ollie Leimbach’s introduction of the band:
Lime Cordiale, an indie pop rock band, is Ollie’s brother Louis Leimbach (vocals, bass guitar, trumpet), Luke Didio (drums), Alex Weybury (Backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar), Jack Howe (Backing vocals and Guitar) and Ollie (Vocals, guitar, saxophone, clarinet). Karl Knapp is the executive producer. Brisbane’s Alex Turley arranged the programme.
Classically trained, the brothers preferred pop and rock with simple melodies and lyrics to challenge us.
The band has released “Permanent Vacation” (2017), “14 Steps to a Better You” (2020), and “Enough of the Sweet Talk” (2024).
Vanessa Schammell conducted the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, which backed the band.
This collaboration with QSO forms part of their Australian tour, with the Tasmanian, Melbourne, Sydney and Western Australian symphony orchestras providing backing in their locations. Quite an achievement for an indie pop rock band!
The audience enjoyed every minute.
“Screw Loose” followed “money”, starting with its hip-hop lyrics and beat.
Ollie introduced “Addicted to the Sunshine” as their environmental song. “As long as we keep darkness out of sight”.
If you want to catch up with their performance, book yourself a ticket at the Sydney Opera House or the Riverside Theatre in Perth.
They gave us the unsettling “Elephant in the Room, followed by “Not that Easy” and “Enough of that Small Talk”.
“Colin” came after the interval with “we are the people, learning the hard way, working it out.”
The evening ended with hits including “Robbery” and “Inappropriate Behaviour”.
Merchandise was on sale. Lime Cordiale have a good range that includes t-shirts and books of lyrics. Lime Cordiale is a sing-along band with a huge following. The crowd went home happy after a night of good music, challenging lyrics and a laid-back style that connects with Australian audiences.
Brisbane turned out in style, cementing our reputation as the music capital of Australia.
For bookings in Sydney and Perth, see: https://www.limecordiale.com/ontour
Kerry McGovern
