Check out all the photos HERE

A young, intimate, mainly female crowd, welcomed Whitley back to Radelaide, as he affectionately called it, for his last headline tour before a break to focus on his eagerly awaited follow-up to the debut album The Submarine.

U.S. support Howie Day was unfortunately sick so support act Seagull and Whitley’s band played one of his songs in place of his set.

Melbourne act Seagull followed with a half hour set filled with an eclectic mix of sounds. This was the first time I had seen Seagull live and I found the performance dramatic and captivating. Every song had an almost theatrical feel including Seagull maintaining a focus, staring straight ahead through most of the set producing an almost hypnotic or haunting feel. There were moments of rock, soft music, and a mainly instrumental feel to most of the set. Every song’s beginning and end were dramatic with an obvious steady build up of sound through the songs and eventually stripping back each instrument to finish on Seagull’s emotive lyrics. Whitley and his band accompanied him which showed the admiration the artists have for each other.

The intimate atmosphere was obvious through the crowd sitting on the floor of Jive through the set. The whole crowd jumped up when Melbourne’s Whitley was nearing the stage for his own set. Beginning his set with one of many funny lines from the 22-year-old musician Lawrence Greenwood; he explained how the set would be divided into an acoustic set and then the rock half with the band, giving the crowd a chance to “get drunk and have fun”. Dressed in cowboy costume in preparation for a themed secret after party, Whitley exhumed a charming, witty, talented and heartfelt acoustic set.

Highlights of the first half included current single More than Life, the cover of Bjork’s Hyperballad, as featured on the No Man’s Woman album from last year, and finishing with I Remember. Whitley interacted with the audience through comical banter and the exchanging of random thoughts he was thinking at the time resulting in the memorable improvised song about emos, confessing his deep love for MP Kate Ellis, delving into a reggae call and response with the audience, and a song about cysts.

The second set featured Whitley and four members of his band; dressed in Cowboy and Indian costumes. In this half, highlights included a rock version of All Is Whole, A Shot to the Stars and crowd favourite Lost in Time. More banter was featured including a shout-out to Centrelink payments which helped fund his debut album, and how drunk people attempting Khe Sanh should be told to either sing in tune or die. The rich country/folk/rock sound of the five-piece was refreshing and the 200 strong crowd were treated to a few songs that were rarely performed like a Jeff Buckley cover and an improvised acoustic version of The Submarine, which is normally played with electronic beats.

Whitley seems like a veteran Australian performer now and he’s only 22! The sound, charm and atmosphere created at Jive was a bit of magic and I definitely recommend everyone see this act and buy; don’t burn; his album! Plus he is a big fan of fasterlouder – always a bonus!

Check out all the photos HERE