Xavier Rudd, Laura Imbruglia @The Tivoli (28/04/2010)

Thu 6th May, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Due to my own naivety, I was pleasantly surprised upon walking into The Tivoli to hear Laura Imbruglia warming up the crowd. Playing solo, she drew from both her earlier work and latest album The Lighter Side Of…. Although her set was relatively short, Imbruglia both entertained the crowd and got them warmed up for tonight’s headliner. Concluding with a brilliant cover of America’s Sister Golden Hair which she dedicated to her parents, Laura Imbruglia was the perfect support and has definitely gained some new fans based on tonight’s performance.

As the theatre lights dim and the stage begins to glow, an air of uncertainty and excitement fills the air. Well renowned as a talented multi-instrumentalist and performer, Xavier Rudd has in the past performed solo for the vast majority of his shows. Tonight brings with it not only the debut of new material off freshly released sixth album Koonyum Sun, but also the first official look at Rudd’s new backing band Izintaba.

Flanked by both the Aboriginal and South African Flags, Izintaba inhabited the stage, filling The Tivoli with booming drums and haunting African melodies before being joined by frontman Xavier Rudd dressed in a sleeveless shirt, beanie and as expected barefoot.

With Izintaba taking control of bass and percussion, Rudd was able to play the role of frontman, one he did with a typical easygoing attitude and child like energy. The set was littered with new material, clearly influenced by the background of Izintaba and written, as per his entire discography, for the live arena. Whilst these songs had the crowd moving to the beat, it was the new take on old favourites that really excited the punters.

Early highlight The Mother sounded like a completely different track with added drums and bass but Let Me Be, with added call and response and featuring Rudd’s exuberant dancing around the entire stage, clearly stole the show. The entire set was packed with memorable moments, from the banjo player wearing a Tool shirt to the two girls dancing to the shows finale. A feature of Xavier Rudd shows of years gone by has been the Indigenous dancers he generally invites on stage for a couple of songs midway through the set. Tonight was no different, with four traditional Aboriginal dancers capturing the crowd’s attention before one of the was invited to the microphone to which he accepted and leapt into a hip hop verse, bringing with it animated applause and cheering from the crowd.

At the conclusion of the main set and a swift break, Rudd returned to the stage for his encore, the highlight of which was heartfelt number Love Comes and Goes. After thanking the crowd, his supporting dancers and Izintaba, or as he referred to them “These blokes from Johannesburg,” Xavier Rudd walked off stage with a smile and a wave.

Although the set didn’t delve deeply into his back catalogue, possibly due to the working relationship being relatively new, the performance itself and quality of the new material left the crowd more than satisfied. As a sea of dreadlocks poured out of the Tivoli doors, one could not help but think what old favourites will sound like once interpreted by Izintaba and how long it will be until we get to hear them.