City and Colour, Hey Rosetta!@ The Tivoli, Brisbane(08/04/2011)

Sun 10th Apr, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Known to put on an amazing live performance- with the sold out national tour to prove it- Dallas Green serenaded and left the Tivoli audience in awe on Friday night. Mid-gig he deemed the show his favorite on the tour so far, and eventually, among his favorite to date- and for good reason.

Warming up the sold out Tivoli crowd, supporting band Hey Rosetta! impressed the audience with their multi-instrumental band members. Romesh Thavanathan, on cello, keyboard, guitar and maracas kept things interesting while lead vocalist Tim Baker set the mood for the evening. The six-piece indie-rock band performed tracks such as Bricks from their newly released album Seeds as well as an older song Red Heart, which was surprisingly requested from a member of the crowd. The Canadian band’s excitement building crescendos and various paced songs kept everyone on their toes and ultimately put on a high-quality set.

After a relatively quick set change, City and Colour’s humble Dallas Green graced the stage, and was welcomed with incredible applause, shrieking, whistles, and any other celebrative noise you can think of. Well known as the soft vocalist/guitarist from Alexisonfire, Green was accompanied by drummer Dylan Green (according to Dallas, “no relation”) and Spencer Burton on bass and back up vocals, and were all about to treat the audience to an hour and a half of pure aural pleasure.

Opening track Confessions had almost every iPhone and camera illuminate the audience within the first few chords of the song. This continued throughout Waiting…, and a twisted version of Sam Malone until Green requested we put all phones and camera’s away, stop tweeting and recording, go “back to the old days” and just feel the music. It was certainly felt and well appreciated while an acoustic Body in a Box had the crowd hypnotized with a mind-blowing sound and lighting combination.

Green mixed it up a little by adding quirky antidotes here and there, and performing an acoustic version of Alexisonfire’s Boiled Frogs, which was greeted with a mass audience response. Crowd favorites Day Old Hate, Hello, I’m in Delaware and Sleeping Sickness were the ‘last’ songs played before Green and his back up instrumentalists exited the stage, only to come back on a minute later with an encore for the pleading audience. Returning to finish the already magnificent show with Comin’ Home, which had the crowd enchanted while chanting, and Sometimes (I Wish) which left the entire Tivoli rapturously applauding as Green and co. departed the stage.

However, the show was yet to end for some fans. A couple hours after the performance had finished Dallas Green met a handful of awaiting devotees at The Tivoli gate and spent over an hour taking photos, answering questions, giving out free hugs to anyone who asked, and didn’t leave until every fan in line had been met.