For many of you, the name Lisa Mitchell is connected to two other words you may have heard of: Australian Idol. For most of the contestants on the show, a solo career post-Idol is largely unattainable without that monkey on their back, and a solo career post-Idol in a fickle indie/roots scene? Forget about it. With Australian Idol firmly entrenched amongst the majority of the indie alternative crowd as a bastion of cookie-cutter pop karaoke, and many of the stars and starlets failing to move beyond community fairs and Carols in the Domain, it can be easy to miss the genuine talent when your preconceptions of the show get in the way.

Preconceptions be damned.

Coming on stage about nine o’clock, the support act for the night, Matt Walters, blended his soulful acoustic balladry with a nervousness that brought most of the crowd to the front for a sit down show. Beleaguered by minor sound issues with his guitar, he pressed on with Lisa’s guitar instead, apologetically – œtuning the fuck out of it’ as he said during the show.

Describing himself as a hopeless romantic, he transferred this emotion to his songs. With a vulnerable sound to his voice, his shy and somewhat nervous demeanour whilst performing was somewhat betrayed by his confidence and rapport with the audience as he kept up the banter between songs. Betrayed in the best possible way, of course. Finishing up after an all-too-quick forty minute set, Matt Walters set a musical and atmospheric tone for the evening with his soft and soul bearing songs, as well as being so intimate with the audience, both during and between songs.

I’ll admit that I make an active effort to steer clear of Idol, so I would be one of those people with the aforementioned preconceptions of a former Idol starlet. From the outset, it was clear that Lisa Mitchell is a world apart from many of her other Idol contemporaries. Keeping the banter alive as soon as she got on stage, Lisa began with Stevie, a song about hero worship of a friend who she described as – œthe shit’.
Rather than going the solo acoustic route as Matt Walters did, Lisa was backed by a very capable drummer and bassist, albeit a new experience for her, as she remarked to the audience whilst trying to co-ordinate count-ins.

From the outset, it was clear that Lisa brings a fragile naivety to her performances that, rather than eliciting sympathy or patronisation from the crowd, instead lends itself to a commanding presence of the audience by drawing each and every member of the crowd into her world. For instance, the interaction with the audience was littered with nervous um’s and ah’s, and when not playing her guitar, her hands are barely still whilst fidgeting with pockets and pulling on her guitar strap, and it reminds you of how young this girl is.

Midway through the set, Lisa asked the crowd if they watch Home and Away, then proceeded to play Far, Far Away, which if you watched the Olympics and saw a Home and Away coming soon promo at any point, would recognise the haunting and melancholy tones of the song immediately. Exposure like that can’t hurt anyone.

About this point, the clichéd remark of coming to Canberra to buy fireworks made its obligatory performance, but as she mentioned – œI know everyone says that, but it is a novelty’. Whilst sticking to her Gibson electric for the majority of the set and playing melodies ranging from alt-folk/country to The Fumes or Black Keys-esque Oh Hark, she finished her set accompanied by a piano in a haunting song about her friend Dann from Evermore.

Switching to her acoustic guitar, Lisa remarked that she was inviting herself to her own encore, because she wasn’t sure of the etiquette involved with an encore, but it’s not as if the audience minded, as they were already calling for more. Finishing with Slow from her first EP Said One to the Other, the night was wrapped up neatly, and if she can impress at 16, be headlining her third national tour ahead of a November album release at 18, what will the future be like for this talented individual?