In the Supper Room off to the side of Perth Town Hall is a framed sepia photo from 1925 that the caption describes as a Charity Costume Ball. There are a few hundred people looking at the camera and posing in their 1920s finery, but they are overshadowed by the magnificent drapery hanging from the ceiling above them; hundreds of streamers branch out from the centre with lanterns hanging below. When I turn back to the ballroom of Perth Town Hall here in 2025, one-hundred years on from that ball, I can see that the decorations for this year’s Perth Festival have been heavily inspired by this photograph, and that same feeling of decadence and refinery pervades the room.
It is Valentine’s Day, and almost every small cabaret table squashed into the hall has a couple on it, arms around each other and their drinks. On each table a lantern emits a warm glow that feels cosy and private under the blue light of the rest of the room, even when pushed up against the table next to us. We are here to see Ali Bodycoat and the Embassy Big Band, a seventeen-piece band made up of some of the best musicians in Perth (some returning from Melbourne for the occasion). Not to be outdone by the décor, they all look splendid in their tuxes and bowties.
Before that, however, the night opens with a piano and double bass duo giving us jazz standards with some improvisation to set the mood. To this sumptuous music we are all checking out the room’s velvet décor, and, of course, the bar. Designed after the Tom Cruise movie Cocktail, the Supper Room is also blue-lit and stacked with bottles but there is plenty of space, the queue is never long, and the bartenders are charming. I am tasting this year’s collaboration with Giniversity: the Perth Festival Afterglow gin and tonic. The website says it evokes the warmth of a campfire next to the ocean but I find that it fits right in with the speakeasy atmosphere of The Embassy, and to me it evokes soft jazz and long cigarette holders. Or is that just the sound of the band striking up next door?
When Artistic Director Tom O’Halloran invites Ali Bodycoat to the stage, she completes the look of the venue in a stunning silvery dress and 1920s-esque feather collar shawl. She promises to warm up the crowd so they feel comfortable enough to get onto the dance floor, which turns out to be the easiest job in the world as half the audience is champing at the bit to give their partner a twirl.
Ali Bodycoat. Photography by Steve Emmerson.
Love is in the air but mostly on the dancefloor, as tables get in the way of couples dancing all the way to the edges of the room. In particular, two women who must be semi-professional swing dancers entrance us from the first song to the very last with their speed, nimble feet, and vivacity. If you are reading this, couple dressed in green and blue, your joy was infectious and your skill astonishing, and watching you dance together was a highlight of the night. I heard this sentiment echoed at many other tables, not just mine.
Appropriate for the evening, most of the songs in the first set are romance themed, including my personal favourite, ‘L-O-V-E,’ and a stunning rendition of ‘Almost Like Being In Love.’ The brass section distinguishes themselves in ‘Alright, Okay, You Win,’ for which they are enthusiastically joined by the voices of most of the audience. The easy repartee of the musicians who have been sharing the stage for a long time is evident not just in their deeply satisfying melodies, but also in the way they watch each other’s solos closely and celebrate each other in every pause.
The quick break between sets did nothing to damper the dancers’ enthusiasm, and by the time Ali belted out ‘On the Sunny Side of the Street’ just two songs in, the dancefloor was once again heaving with spinning couples. It begs the questions, why are there not more shows like this on in Perth, when there is clearly such a hunger for them?
In The Embassy Big Band, Festival Director Anna Reece has created an experience that Perth audiences are crying out for. Three hours of the best of the best playing jazz standards with Ali Bodycoat’s intoxicating voice was not long enough, they could easily have kept the dancefloor full well into the night.
Ali Bodycoat and the Embassy Big Band are back at Perth Town Hall on Friday 21st February.