Alex Lloyd @ Fly By Night(17/05/09)

Wed 20th May, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Too slack to even sit on the floor at the Fly By Night? Williamb wasn’t.

Paving the way for many Australian male singer songwriters in the latter 1990s Alex Lloyd held the auditory attention of the nation’s kids and oldies. The passion and grit that came out through the delivery of seemingly simplistic lyrics created a basis of success for the Pikes and the Evans’ of the 2000s to build upon.

Awarded and lauded Lloyd slipped out of the national songbook following his move to London in 2005.

Returning to Australian shores as an independent artist Lloyd’s arrival was without fanfare or extensive publicity and press. Regardless, Lloyd fans lined up along the exterior paving of the Fly By Night, tickets in hand to meet up with a long lost friend.

Opening the show, a man of many words, Nathan Gaunt is a cut off the country/singer songwriter block. With a showcase of songs from his latest album recorded part in the US and finished off in Australia, Gaunt took the opportunity as a lone man on stage to chat with the audience and have them get involve in his stories and songs.

Big City Woman showed another side to this untamed local as he discussed his encounters with a mature female predatory sex beast, the cougar! Gaunt took the yarn beyond the attention spans of most present, using the set like a therapy session.

Knocking on his guitar for percussion effect while drumming with one foot and blowing on a harmonica the one man band produced vocal gems the likes of Blue Skies For Miles that swung from country styled hollers to rich Jeff Buckley like croons.

Resuming the Fly By’s tradition of pre-gig floor sitting more than half the crowd crouched and crossed their legs for the interchange.

With a casual entrance Lloyd headed straight to a split vinyl chair with exposed yellowing foam where he remained seated for the whole performance. Segments of the crowd remained leisurely in their seated positions with no signs of being hassled by the comfortably spaced bystanders.

Beginning the slow building What We Started Lloyd’s voice was the immediate focus of the semi-acoustic presentation with only an electric guitar included to flesh out the sound of Lloyd’s steel string acoustic.

Still Waiting drove the early melancholy of the show only to be exacerbated when Lloyd told the audience of his touring drummer’s bout of appendicitis that had led to impending surgery at the Fremantle Hospital only several blocks from the venue. Unfortunately it was only picked up on much later in the night that the touring drummer had engaged in most of the crowd banter while in Australia and now, with his absence, Lloyd had managed to largely ignore his audience for the show and wondered why the reaction had been so lackluster.

To the enjoyment of the audience, however subdued, Lucky Star, Green and Black The Sun came through with reassuring familiarity and for the last song of the night a violin-free countrified Amazing had the audience jigging a forward facing square dance.

With the freedom from record labels Lloyd now has the ability to shape the way he is presented. Although without a conviction to deliver elements of a strong show, his infrequent and reserved tours could pale in comparison to the performances of his successors.

Too slack to even sit on the floor at the Fly By Night? Williamb wasn’t.