For Lime Cordiale fans, the night started early. About 30 minutes after doors, Oli Leimbach, one of two brothers at the group’s core, greeted early birds with hand-printed flyers featuring the band’s logo before disappearing backstage.
The pop-rock collective is one of Australia’s biggest bands right now – earning Triple J’s most-played artist in 2024 – but in typical American fashion, we just don’t know what we’re missing. Coming off an arena tour in Australia and New Zealand last fall, Friday’s show at the Exit/In provided a unique opportunity for the band, and fans, to get up close and personal.
Columbus alt-pop duo The Orphan The Poet opened the night, bringing an absurd amount of energy. Lead vocalist David Eselgroth was hard to lock down, running from one side of the stage to the other before launching himself into the crowd for “Birthday.” Bassist Jake Floyd similarly engaged the crowd throughout the set, but touring drummer Blue McDaniel’s ability to seamlessly blend in really stole the show. Matching Eselgroth and Floyd’s energy is no easy feat, but he managed to do so while playing with a ferocity that could fit in just as well with a metal band as it did with The Orphan The Poet’s early 2010s indie pop.
The venue was again filled with reggae, funk, and soul instrumentals as Lime Cordiale’s team began the switchover. The crowd was noticeably inebriated, despite it being quite early, but in good spirits. A full rendition of “Happy Birthday” started at the barricade and made its way to the back of the crowd by the end, and the beginning of “Tequila” was met with rapturous applause. Before long, the lights were lowering again.
Lime Cordiale appropriately started their set with “Pedestal” – the opening track of Enough Of The Sweet Talk – before playing two of their biggest hits, “Temper Temper” and “Naturally.” After which was the first of many asides of the night. While the anecdote, “it was like a show and a stand-up set in one” is often overused, it feels like the only way to describe the night. Oli and Louis’s brotherly dynamic created an incredibly natural banter. They acknowledged that while they usually picked up their bus in Nashville, it was their first time playing a show in the city, and they made sure to shout out their bus driver, Randy. In true Nashville form, Randy received some of the biggest cheers of the night.
They introduced “Enough of the Sweet Talk” as their “Australian version of a Tennessee country song,” and claimed they’ve been targeting Facebook ads for the song to Nashville. After a few more, an argument over whose side of the audience was better culminated in the “Lightweight Championship” between Oli and Louis. Complete with strobe lights, boxing robes, and their stage tech, Jacko, serving as the referee.
Despite the silly antics, Lime Cordiale still would have put on a killer show. The backing band supported four-way harmonies and synth-heavy transitions that created cohesion throughout the set, and the brothers traded out their guitar and bass for clarinet, trumpet, and saxophone at various points. It was obvious that the jokes weren’t meant to distract from a subpar set, but rather, that the Lime Cordiale guys are the envious combo of funny and talented.
By now, the crowd’s inebriation was infectious. Louis at one point even took a shot from a group of fans and remarked, “Yummy.” When the boys left the stage, the audience began chanting the obligatory “one more song,” but their drunken state turned the chant into a round of sorts which was surprisingly melodic, albeit chaotic. “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi,” soon added to the cacophony, but the “oi, oi, oi” lined up with the continuing request for “one more song” in such a way that the Exit/In transformed into a kind of drunken choir.
The encore consisted of the brothers’ acoustic rendition of “Waking Up Easy,” and then was joined by the rest of the band for “Robbery.” Before show closer “Inappropriate Behaviour,” Oli remarked, “Thank you so much… Anytime we go to the other side of the world, it’s overwhelming to see anyone at our shows so thank you, thank you, thank you.” After, Louis walked the barricade to shake each person’s hand and quietly say thank you before leaving, and the crowd filed out to undoubtedly continue the party elsewhere.
The Orphan The Poet at Exit/In Feb. 21 
The Orphan The Poet at Exit/In Feb. 21 
The Orphan The Poet at Exit/In Feb. 21 
Lime Cordiale at Exit/In Feb. 21 
Louis Leimbach of Lime Cordiale at Exit/In Feb. 21 
Louis Leimbach of Lime Cordiale at Exit/In Feb. 21 
Oli Leimbach of Lime Cordiale at Exit/In Feb. 21
