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A decent-sized crowd welcomed support act Laura Hill as she sauntered on stage at Fowler’s Live, acoustic guitar in hand. Joined by the Tuesday Bandits, namely bass guitarist Craig Kelly and Justin Parker on drums and backup vocals, Hill showcased their debut album, Over My Shoulder, which has been receiving airplay on Triple J.
Hill’s ‘ocker’ spoken voice belied the sweet singing tones that emerged as she launched into her music. Each of her songs seems to come with an endearing back-story, with second track of the evening I Simply about “rainy days, when you don’t want to go to work.” Mexico With Me shared tales of her world-wanderings, and she even managed to squeeze in a Borat reference as she sang her way from Mexico to Kazakhstan then home again.
Adelaide-based Hill was not shy with banter with the crowd, dropping in a few jokes, calling for “clickety clicks” to aid a song, and encouraging audience participation by relating that “singing makes you 80 per cent more attractive”. This singer-songwriter has a definite Aussie flavour to her songs, traversing the range from thoughtful acoustic tunes to fun, high-spirited numbers. Feel-good Happy was a highlight, aptly described by Parker as his “favourite anti-depressant song.” Her 50-minute support slot was warmly received and was sure to have garnered her plenty of new followers.
Ash Grunwald burst onto stage 30 minutes later, with an eager crowd surging forward to pack the space in Fowler’s. After a technical issue caused a couple of minutes’ delay after the first song, the offending stray cord was plugged in securely and Grunwald claimed he had “got the evil bass back,” launching into Bassrider to the crowd’s delight.
Grunwald powered through songs from recent release Fish Out Of Water along with past favourites including Rosie and 1976, demonstrating his unique style of dirty blues, featuring guitar, percussion and distortion effects on the mic. Without exception, the crowd were soon stamping their feet to the raw, earthy rhythms of this formidable performer, supported by band members Benny Owen and Kanchana Karunaratna sharing drums, junk percussion and West-African drums.
Always the charismatic performer, Grunwald’s engagement with the audience ranged from inviting a pre-schooler from the audience to accompany him on drums, to wishing crowd-surfing ‘John’ a great 21st birthday. The crowd’s enthusiasm was reflected right back, with Grunwald repeatedly exclaiming that he was having a lot of fun during the gig.
Late in the set, the Victorian artist broke into a medley of some of his former hits, whipping his dreadlocks around like a Medusa head-full of snakes as he led into an energy-charged version of recent single, Break Out. Slipping away momentarily to catch his breath, Grunwald soon returned to the stage for an encore featuring crowd pleaser The Dolphin Song. The night was ended on a 15-minute version of Just Be Yourself, during which Grunwald even threw in a Moby sample for good measure. Grunwald never fails to please and the applause that followed him as he left the buzzing room confirmed that his return to Adelaide will be greatly anticipated.
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