Review: Confidence Man, The Fleece

I didn’t fully know what to expect when I turned up to The Fleece to see Confidence Man, but the last thing on my mind was two shirtless men, wearing dark trousers and wide-brimmed hats with sheer veils like Satanic beekeepers, settling into an off-the-cuff intro of thudding electronics and drums. Even less than that, the male-female duo of Janet Planet and Sugar Bones wandering out on stage dressed in a black shirt with slicked back hair, and white pom-pom-imbued baby doll dress respectively.

In the midst of the maddening, drunken fumbles and fidgeting in the front row of the crowd, it’s difficult to ascertain the truth from the fiction when watching Confidence Man. Are their deadpan faces a truthful expression of how they feel about being in Bristol on a muggy Thursday night, or are they part of this Black Mirror-esque sexy robot caricature they’ve built around themselves? Are their open-armed wails into the sky between poppy breakdowns in Out the Window screams for release, or part of this great cloak of irony they drape themselves in?

Confidence Man // Image by Caitlin Clark

What isn’t difficult to understand, however, is the unfiltered talent this Australian duo have. As relative “newcomers” to the music scene, releasing their debut album Confident Music For Confident People just last year, the way they move together on stage is a marvel to behold. As they sideways sway in perfect synergy, you could easily mistake them for seasoned live performers of decades, maybe even more.

Another element of their live show that is impossible to skim over is their raw sexuality. Each song is pregnant with the promise of touch; sensualised in the most animalistic way, whether it be in the song’s lyrics (“I wish I had / Someone to rub my body on”) or in the way Janet Planet writhes against the stage pillars or how Sugar Bones rains champagne down on his crowd. It’s hedonism at its finest; like being chucked into a filthy techno rave in Amsterdam at 3am with nothing but a pair of hot pants and a bottle of rum.

Confidence Man // Image by Caitlin Clark

The enigmatic duo take a couple of breaks throughout their hour-long set, each time returning with a new outfit. The second, and most impressive, sees them both head-to-toe in the finest couture Wicked Witch of the West paired with Madonna’s cone bra after a colourful lighting facelift. Janet Planet can only be described as a bratty, millennial Wednesday Adams from the furthest reaches of outer space. Their third, introducing one of their most well-received tracks Don’t You Know I’m In A Band, sees them wearing masks of their own faces. Their sense of irony, the subtle humour in every action and dance move makes this more of a piece of performance-slash-comedy-slash-art than simply a gig.

C.O.O.L Party, introduced by a gossipy teenage girl monologue from Janet Planet, sent the crowd into an insatiable frenzy, fed by chorus after chorus of a memorable synth-heavy melody and catchy hook: “C O O L (cool) / I’m a cool party girl in a cool party world”. Confidence Man slunk off as the track fuzzed out to nothing, but were brought back to the stage by the demanding chants of the crowd: “C O O L, COOL! / I’m a cool party girl in a cool party world!”

Confidence Man // Image by Caitlin Clark

Finishing the evening with a rambunctious rendition of Boyfriend, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. We’d travelled to the depths of the biggest, dirtiest rave of the year and come out the other side, drenched in champagne and fully satisfied.

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