Friday night at the Royal Canberra Theatre saw the luscious Kasey Chambers bring her new show, new band, husband, and pretty much her whole family to the capital. Canberran’s were treated to a night of lovely country tunes and delightful banter from the beautiful country singer and husband Shane Nicholson. Also along for the ride was Ryan Bingham on his first tour in Australia.
Bingham kicked off the night and the 27 year old hailing from Hobbs, New Mexico played an acoustic set sans his band the Dead Horses, whom he plays with on his 2007 album Mescalito. He easily managed to get the seated theatre crowd in a toe tapping, knee slapping mood for the night. You might say the songs and lyrics were clichéd: classic country tunes about women, love, loss, lost highways and hard work – and you wouldn’t be wrong. But Bingham brings a stirring presence to the stage making it difficult for the crowd to look away. Maybe it was his charming good looks and tight jeans or maybe it was his pure talent with the guitar and that ‘whiskey-and-cigarette’ raspy voice. Anyway you look at it, the crowd were impressed.
Bingham played a selection of tracks from Mescalito including: Southside of Heaven, Bread and Water and Ghost of Travelin’ Jones. Cliché or not, Bingham brought a certain level of credibility to the check shirt, cowboy boots and harmonica, surely winning over new fans far from home. There’s indeed something very lovely about a man and his guitar.
But there was no doubt the crowd had made their way in from the suburbs for just one reason. To see the lovely Kasey Chambers grace The Royal Theatre stage. And what a striking entrance the country star made. Entering the stage alone, in darkness, she commenced the show a cappella style with I Still Pray shortly being joined by father Bill Chambers and husband Shane Nicholson all sharing the one microphone. Charming and disarming the petite brunette took a seat front of stage thrilling the audience.
The 2002 pop hit Not Pretty Enough came out early, perhaps to get it out of the way making room for new material. A natural with an audience, Chambers entertained the crowd with her stories and banter as much as her unique vocal chords. Spilling the beans on domestic tiffs, artistic differences and marriage, you may have mistaken Royal Canberra Theatre as the Chambers/Nicholson lounge room, which it seems is just the way Kasey wants it. The family trio played songs from across Chambers back catalog as would be expected. The largely acoustic show allowed the husband and wife duo to perfectly showcase their beautiful voices and highlight the stories the lyrics tell. Nicholson, formerly of indie band Pretty Violent Stain could be described as the complete opposite of his rambunctious wife. Quietly spoken and considered, Nicholson’s voice really came into it’s own as the show went on leaving no doubt he is an incredibly talented artist in his own right.
At the midpoint of the show, Chambers welcomed the Rattlin’ Bones Band to the stage, stepping up the tempo and the sound. Taking crowd requests, Kasey, Shane and the band played several tracks from the recently released Rattlin’ Bones album including: Monkey on a Wire the moving One More Year and a song inspired by American reality television, Jackson Hole. With the stage saturated in an array of instruments that included around 20 guitars, an electric slide, mandolin, banjo, a weizenbaum, piano and more, the talented collection of musicians utilised almost all of them to their advantage.
What’s a theatre show like this without the obligatory encore? The crowd demanded it and Kasey returned to the stage for a three song encore with Nicholson taking to the piano once again. While many in the crowd yearned for True Colours the 2003 cover, Kasey opted to play the beautiful The Captain, Woe Is Mine/No Depression, closing out the show with, We’re All Gonna Die Someday.
Then as quick as a flash the crowd were out the door, pouring into the car park and heading home on the long highway out to who knows where.
