I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: July 22, 2026] The Temper Trap

I was really excited for this show. Muse is always a good show and I brought my son with me–he’s become a big fan.  I had purchased lawn seats and was hoping to upgrade them to pavilion seats when we arrived.  So I wanted to get there earlier enough to upgrade without having to hang out with nothing to do.  I knew that heading down to Holmdel around 6PM can really suck. but I was totally unprepared for how bad the traffic would be.  Holy cow, we were on 287 for half an hour easily (ten miles).  We pulled up to the venue just before 7. We still managed to upgrade our tickets and walked into the pvailion just as The Temper Trap came on.

I hadn’t heard of The Temper Trap, but when I looked them up I found out that they had a new album that being quite well received.

I also found out that they were from Melboure and I’ve been having a great deal of luck with Australian bands lately.  Well, I’ve found that they actually moved to London a while ago (and singer Dougy Mandagi doesn’t have much of Australian accent).

I enjoyed their set but I wasn’t really blown away by anything.  Indeed, when they were done I couldn’t even really remember what the sounded like (except that the bass was way too loud, which I know is not the band’s fault).

Listening to the songs now, Lucky Dimes is pretty cool with the sound effects getting generated–but which I didn’t really notice during the show.

Into the Wild slowed things down and Mandagi ‘s falsetto really came to the fore.

They played Sweet Disposition which is one of their first singles.  There’s some fun drums (from Toby Dundas) on this song and ringing guitars.  I’m not sure who sang backing vocals (possibly bassist Jonathon Aherne) but they wee great on this song.  This song reminds me of an anthemic band like The Alarm or early U2.   It’s not immediately gripping, but I can see it getting decent airplay.

When they started playing the opening riff to Giving Up Air (a kind of looping guitar part from Joseph Greer) the crowd went crazy.  And I wondered how everyone new this song from this new band.  The short answer is, I think, TikTok, but when I looked the up I discovered that they’ve been together since 2005.  The have done their own tours of the States from time to time.  I can’t believe I’ve never heard of them (and their name would really stand out because it’s pretty dumb).

Mandagi was a fun front man (and now that I see he’s been doing it for 20 years, it makes sense).  I think he expected more from the crowd, but it was early and the place was prettty empty–although the guy in front of me had bought their vinyl and was waving it at the band.

Their set was only 25 minutes.  I liked them but didn’t think they were especially memorable.

Love Lost ©
Lucky Dimes ⊗
Into the Wild ⊗
Sweet Disposition ©
Giving Up Air ⊗

⊗ Sungazer (2026)
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