Confidence Man at Pohjoda 2020
Every year is accompanied by an anthem in our office, too. Probably the most played song in the office before Pohoda 2018 was "Boyfriend (Repeat)" by Confidence Man. After Glastonbury, Gigwise described them as one of the best live bands they had seen in recent years which was fully confirmed in Slovakia as well. According to The Independent, they launched into a type of tongue-in-cheek, hedonistic ambiguous disco bangers at Pohoda. Living up to their reputation as the summer’s greatest festival band, an hour in their company was the most delirious fun imaginable, combining the ridiculous, the highly camp, and the utterly magnificent. That’s why we didn’t hesitate when an opportunity arose to have them again, and so the Australian Confidence Man will come back after two years.
13. December 2019
Besides having love of music in common, Confidence Man members used to be flatmates. The band came about spontaneously when one of them quickly created a tune on the computer, with others suddenly singing, yelling and trying to get the microphone. Then, they recorded more songs the same way, solely for fun. Confidence Man finally made a breakthrough with their performance at The Great Escape and Glastonbury in 2017. After their show, Gigwise compared their sound to a combination of LCD Soundsystem and The B52s. After their concert at Pohoda, the same website wrote: “If it’s a party you’re after, then Australian acts Confidence Man and Donny Benet provide the action. The former’s choreographed moves, deadpan expressions and baggy hyper-funk got the Arena Slovenskej Sporitelne shaking their collective booty.”
Shortly before Pohoda 2018 they released their debut Confident Music For Confident People, which, according to Drowned in Sound, is the most unashamedly addictive record you’ll hear all year. Odes to the album were also confirmed by the year-end charts with their debut ranking among the best recordings of the year, according to The Guardian, NME and The Skinny. However, it's their live shows that's the important factor, as confirmed by DIY after their performance in Slovakia: „At various points singers Janet Planet and Sugar Bones crawl around the floor like cats, spray the crowd with champagne, spend several moments checking themselves out in a mirror and gyrate around with saucy abandon. It’s ridiculous and brilliant, and the packed tent can’t get enough.” Their concert was also praised by the local media. For example, the website Teraz.sk wrote: "An inconspicuous highlight of entertainment was delivered on Friday by the Australian act Confidence Man... A little bit of "Let’s exercise to the rhythm", a bit of B-52's, a gentle touch of Happy Mondays or Primal Scream, a lot of energy. Different, cheerful, lively; excellent fun was also met with response from the audience who were attracted by the dynamics of the performance of Pohoda’s "black horse". Our colleague Natália described the concert as her highlight as well and added: “From the beginning to the end, Confidence Man delivered a sophisticated dynamic show, accompanied by energetic choreographies of the main duo who even managed to (almost imperceptibly) leave the stage several times and change into impressive costumes (about 5 times). With all that taken into account, they serious expressions, paradoxically, gave away they weren’t taking themselves seriously at all.” This is also confirmed by Janet Planet, who briefly adds at the end of the interview for portal Tone Deaf: “It’s about making this really awesome dance music that doesn’t take itself too seriously.” With an unchanged approach, they released a new single “Does It Make You Feel Good” a few days ago, confirming their well-set bar and trend.
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