Pete Murray, Blanch Du Bois,Toby & Code Red, Dave MannCollective, Carus and the TrueBelievers @ Kings Park,11/12/04

Tue 14th Dec, 2004 in Gig Reviews

This event could not have organised a more beautiful place to hold a gig. Lush grass upon a sloping hill with trees scattered on the rise overlooking a small lake with ducks. Behind this was the stage set amongst more trees. The weather was excellent as well, the sun was shining, a calming wind and not a cloud in the sky.  To top this off it was a smoke free event, with smokers cowering towards the toilet area before returning to their space in the crowd.

My sister and I chose a spot under a tree to the right of the stage near the top of the rise, perfect.  We laid out our blanket to claim our spot and I went to the bar, the much anticipated afternoon had begun!  How lucky did I feel, I was one of six thousand in a sold out crowd on a beautiful day in a beautiful place with my best friend about to see one of Australia’s finest musicians, Pete Murray. His voice has been described as being as smooth as honey and as rich as chocolate, sounds like a melody to the senses.

But wait there is more…...The supporting line up was awesome, the best of West Australia’s local blues and roots artists, Blanch Du Bois, Toby and Code Red, Dave Mann Collective, Carus and the True Believers.

Before this day I had not heard of or seen any of these supporting acts ever, so it was very exciting.  The first act Blanch Du Bois were full of heart. Headed by two sisters, lead vocals and guitar with no drums, just angel voices with guitars, keys and soul. These girls were enchanting to listen to and I liken her voice to The Cranberries. Their harmonies were beautiful, lyrics meaningful and the addition of the harmonica in a couple of songs was very cool.

Toby and Code Red. Woah! The lead singer of this band – Toby, well, she went off. Firey and energetic with a very powerful voice, almost aggressive in fact, and she could hold a note! I wanted to yell out, “you go girl!” Oh, and the woman on the violin was awesome, she jammed hard. Harmonica was also played during some songs and also the flute, never have I seen a flautist in a band before. A very unique performance and I wish the songwriter better luck when it comes to men!! Unfortunately for me, a lot of the lyrics struck a chord in my love life too!

Band number three took over the whole stage with keys, guitar, harmonica, drums, lead and accompany vocals with tamborine and sticks. I was fully transported to another place. These guys (and girl!) made me feel like I was in the country at the local muster or rodeo. It wasn’t like I wanted to start bootscooting or anything like that, just wanted to grab my man and sit by the fire and enjoy the music, like you enjoy a good ballad. It was Dave Mann Collective and their self titled album and their second EP “Wake Up” are on Santa’s list for me this Xmas!!

I would have to say Carus And The True Believers were awesome. They announced they were playing a gig again the next day with Dave Mann Collective and I so wanted to be there, circumstances made this impossible unfortunately!

Some people had wandered to the dance floor as darkness began to fall but this band attracted many more. I ran down to take a photo as I had done all afternoon and just had to dance. The dance floor was actually built over part of the lake and it was bouncing like a springboard under our feet! My sister loved it as did I, a moving dance floor is quite cool, had to be there!

This four man band has keys, drums, bass and lead guitar and the lead singer, Carus, even had his own funky little dance. Their set was unreal, consisting of blues and roots, funky reggae and even a fast lyric rap type song, which was amazing to hear.  These guys got the crowd pumping as we got ready for the final act of the night…

What can I say, Pete Murray’s voice is absolutely beautiful and melts me to the core. This is the guy you would take home to meet your mum and dad (sorry boys, I’m sure he’d be cool to hang out with too!).

The dance floor unfortunatly turned into a mini mosh pit with no mosh just the push and the shove to get to the front, a bit of a shame really but gave me the chance to see the stage at night from the top of the hill. Everyone was happy and singing and swaying and clapping it was great. It wasn’t long before we ventured back down towards the front though!

Singing all our favourites; So Beautiful, Bail Me Out, Please, he also played a couple of old classics, songs I had heard before though can’t recall the artist.

The very last song was, in fact, one of these and he asked the crowd to get on their feet and shone light on them. It was a really cool thing to see all the people who had been mellowing out on their blankets all day getting up for him. We all sang the chorus together a few times and well you know how cool that is!! At one stage during the song Pete sang the wrong word and stopped to tell us he was a little nervous now everyone was on their feet! For this he recieved a chorus of giggles which was nice.

Overall, the concert was more than I had expected. It was smoke free, lines to the toilets were quite short, food, drinks, friendly staff and security, beautiful surroundings, great atmosphere with a bucketload of local talent that I didn’t even know about!!