Josh Pyke serenaded us with his beautiful, melancholy words; lamenting the passage of time, the demise of youth and innocence, love lost; but always with an undertone of hope, of remembering the past but looking forward to the future, promising to be the best person he can be, and how out of moments of trauma, can come wonderful experiences, a new outlook and deeper love. He began the last night of his tour with the hauntingly beautiful Feeding the Wolves. Playing to a crowd of adoring fans, who were standing in quiet delight, soaking up the balmy night under the stars; he howled out in pure tones of sadness and love. Anyone who thought it might be a good place to take a date was dead right, and there were definitely a few cuddlers spread on blankets towards the back of the crowd.

The show took place at Fremantle Arts Centre, which seemed like it would be a pretty small venue for such a beloved artist, but it turns out that it’s not just the tree-dotted courtyard at the front that comprises performance area for the Centre; there’s a huge section at the back, spaning about three tiers of grass with capacity for a few thousand, and it was pretty well full of people. Pyke seemed a little shocked when he came out and saw just how many people were there; maybe he still hasn’t quite come to terms with his popularity yet.

From there he moved on to another old favourite, Silver. But half-way through the song he suddenly stopped and said “hang on, they’re not the right words, does anyone know the right words?” embarrassingly, no one seemed to, as beautiful and meaningful as the song is, no one was able to help him out… the couple of offers for marriage he received were not helpful at that particular time, but amused him none-the-less. After comparing his predicament to coming to school naked, he just took up the song again from where he remembered, and no one there seemed to mind. All of his songs have so many words, with twists and complexities and variations that it’s surprising he doesn’t forget more often. Plus, being the last night of a whirlwind tour, on the back of the Beatles’ White Album performances and festivals and an album release, he has been working pretty damn hard for quite some time. He mentioned several times that this would be the last we’d see of him for a couple of years, he’s going into hibernation for a while to work on his new album and undoubtedly to spend some time with his loved ones. And while that’s a little disappointing for us, it means a better quality of music next time if he’s not burnt out from touring.

The show was split into three parts. The first of which was Pyke, alone on stage, armed with one of various guitars, playing songs spanning his catalogue, but predominately his earlier songs; glimpsing back to his first national tour, with just him, with a guitar and kick drum (and unfortunately a little bit of Bob Evans back-up singing: eww.) The second set saw his band come out to join him in some of the more lively tunes, some of them a little bit country, with banjos and keyboards and various percussion instruments, Finally, after a short intermission, they band came back out with full drum-kit, guitar and keys sections to play some of the big numbers that can only be done justice with a full compliment of musicians. It was great very cool to see the different ways his music could be performed, and the build up throughout the show saw it peak at the end in the way that every artist hopes their show can.

It’s funny how sometimes you can hear a song and think; “Wow, that could have been written about my life”, Pyke seems to have so many of these songs. The most obvious would have to be Middle of the Hill, which he used to end the first section of the show, much to the absolute delight of the whole crowd, (especially two girls who insisted on shouting out every lyric, which was super-fun for the rest of us…). Interestingly though, only a few songs before, he played us a brand new tune called Pressed up against you in the crowd. It was a gorgeous love song, but the most stand out lyrics were describing the exact phenomena sometimes felt by those listening to him, that he’s singing about our own lives. Towards the end of the show he also treated us to a sneak peek at another new one called Good Head Start, which was very lively and he actually said after “I hope you like that one, because it’s really fun to play”. If these tracks are a taste of what’s to come for Pyke, the next album will certainly be one worth waiting for.