CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

A fair chunk of Sydney, and seemingly their mothers, braved the inclement weather to see this sold-out songstress at The (Virgin Mobile) Metro on a Saturday night. Having enjoyed a meteoric rise from Australian Idol runner-up to…erm…quirky indie popster, Lisa Mitchell appeared before a very enthusiastic crowd on the last outing of her current tour.

That the venue was getting quite crowded by the time the first support, White Birds & Lemons, came on probably said more about the crap weather outside than the people who got the support slot for Mitchell. The New Zealand natives looked a little out of place with their MacBooks amidst the eclectic collection of lampshades and rocking chairs assembled on stage for the main act, but soon made their presence felt. Ripping through a brisk set, the band showcased some tracks off their current EP, including the catchy Shapes.

Sherlock’s Daughter set the bar a little higher, fitting right in with the stage design and adding a dose of their own multi-instrumental mêlée. It’s very hard to pigeonhole the band into a genre, yet their combination of melody, technology and stunning vocalist Tanya Horo gave them something of a transcendently beautiful quality that would be difficult to follow.

So, with a flurry of head wobbles and faux hearth fires, Lisa Mitchell took to the stage before a completely packed crowd. While most were no doubt there on the strength of – œthat song’, Mitchell took punters through a quick tour of songs from her current album Wonder, even briefly dismissing her band for a cover of Dire Straits’ Romeo & Juliet.

However, it was the backing band that was the real strength behind Mitchell’s set. Although distinctive, Mitchell is not really blessed with a strong voice (think love-child of Joanna Newsom and Billy Corgan), and the amplification of the venue highlighted a few warbles. Yet the sheer jauntiness of the opening few songs and the enthusiasm of the band (at least one of whom looked like a French children’s entertainer) kept the pixie-like singer afloat. So Jealous is destined to be an anthem that will outlast the disposable nature of the other throwaway single, and was certainly one of the highlights of the evening.

It wasn’t all jaunty, though. There are a fair few songs in the Lisa Mitchell catalogue that have a certain – how can I put this delicately? – sameness (albeit a sweet and sugary sameness) to them. It was during these numbers that collective eyelids began to droop a little (at least I think they did, because I was nodding off), before bringing it all home with That Song.

Say what you will, and I think I just did, but this show proved that Mitchell has a dedicated following. Preempting the inevitable, Mitchell warned audiences about the physical dangers of throwing coins at her during Coin Laundry. One guesses it is only a matter of time before people start hurling little old houses and lemon trees up on stage.

Mitchell’s brief set didn’t quite outstay its welcome, knowing when to make a graceful exit (a trick she learned from Idol presumably). Closing it all out with Neapolitan Dreams, I would have felt perfectly happy to go back to the regular world after leaving the Metro – if only I could get the damn song out of my head.