Rickie Lee Jones @ SydneyOpera House (28/05/2010)

Tue 1st Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

With the Sydney Opera House sails showing all sorts of wild shapes and colours and the sky graced with a full moon, who better than Rickie Lee Jones to kick off the Vivid Festival in Sydney. Rickie has lived a life and a half already. She jumped into our minds and our hearts just over 30 years ago with that song that became her statutory track that she performs at almost every gig, Chuck E’s In Love. With many miles and loads of life under her belt, I was unsure of what we were going to be given on this splendid evening in Sydney.

With no support act, Rickie and her trio took to the stage about 20 minutes late and they were greeted with a very warm applause. Rickie kicked off with Weasel and The White Boys and from there she introduced Last Chance Texaco, both from her first record, and you could tell this was going to be a fairly special event. Rickie played the songs in an almost chronological order of when they were released and in between, she told us tales in a fairly dry monotone reminiscent of comedian Steven Wright, of what was happening to her at that time. She was funny, intriguing and a little bit shattered by life, but she kept it together and her banter was well received.

Being able to tell us accounts of being with Tom Waits (“we were always illuminated by a backlight”) and of working with Lowell George on Easy Money were like little bits of rock and roll history lessons. You could tell she was enjoying herself and even though chitchat with the audience was slight, accepting one request for Ugly Man and turning down some others by saying not tonight, she was endearing and fragile.

Switching between acoustic/electric guitar and keyboards, it was an exceptional two hour show by Ms. Jones. Rickie was joined by Jose Maramba on bass and drummer Lionel Cole. Besides their musical instrument expertise, Lionel and Jose sang gorgeous harmonies and assisted Rickie on some of the higher notes. Not that this was any reflection on her vocals, which seemed fairly untainted by the sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle she had inhabited for years.

Wild Girl and Bonfires from her latest record were moving and lovely. If you have not caught up with Ms. Jones in awhile, Balm of Gilead is a nice place to touch base again. Rickie hit us with her cover of Bowie’s Rebel, Rebel, a different arrangement of Livin’ It Up and Pirates where the ‘c’ word was uttered within the walls of the hallowed Opera House.

Rickie Lee is definitely The Duchess of Coolsville and it was wonderful to be in her presence and sit at her feet as she displayed a wealth of talent, life and humour. As mentioned, the perfect way to spend the first night of the Vivid Festival.