King Khan & The Shrines are exactly what soul and funk music should be – loud, fun, sexy, loose and entertaining. They are a band that knows when to seduce and when to incite reckless dancing and thats exactly what they did at the Oxford Art Factory.

Sydney’s Royal Headache warmed the crowd with a curious and captivating mix of garage-pop and rock & roll laced with a punk attitude and some gloriously melodic and soulful vocals. They seemed to be having a blast eyeing each other as they ploughed through their songs. The vocals are the drawcard, made even more interesting by the bent over lurching and wide-eyed stare of the singer who has a genius grasp of raw soul and pop in the tradition of Paul Weller, Kevin Rowlands and bands like Exploding Hearts.

Somehow The Shrines – all ten of them – managed to fit on the OAF stage and still had enough room to shimmy and strut with abandon. Decked out in fetching black outfits with exotic necklaces they still had nothing on King Khan himself – resplendent in a leopard skin jacket, gold cape and feathered head-dress.

It took a few songs for the crowd to loosen up and really feel the groove but as soon as The Shrines launched into Land Of The Freak they were hooked. It is the kind of music that it is impossible to stand still for. The horns were a combo of James Brown in New Orleans, the bass was constant and the guitarist was versatile enough that elements of punk, rock & roll and psych blues were all fed into the glorious noise.

With the exception of a new song and a surging cover of The Saints’ Know Your Product, Khan focused on last year’s compilation The Supreme Genius Of… with particular highlights being Torture, Took My Lady To Dinner, Welfare Bread, I Wanna Be A Girl, No Regrets and the chiming guitar and drum stomp of Burnin’ Inside.

The stage schtick of The Shrines is what sets them aside from your standard funk band. Go-go dancer Bamboorella was a non-stop ball of energy; winking, twirling, gyrating and cheerleading throughout the night while the rest of the band took turns venturing into the audience, laughing and mixing it up with genuine glee.   Khan though was the undeniable ringleader, able to get hot and heavy and then the next minute tell a hilarious tale of climbing completely inside his woman. Appearing for the encore with only a cape and his matching hot pants he was a picture of unashamed glory.

Of all the gigs I’ve seen at the OAF, this one was the hottest (literally) and showed the power of a killer band, great songs and a party-mode live show. Lets hope they return to Australia sooner rather than later, long live King Khan!