Clare Bowditch, Lanie Lane @The Governor Hindmarsh,Adelaide (10/07/11)

Thu 14th Jul, 2011 in Gig Reviews

This woman is without a doubt, one of the most entertaining artists I have ever had the pleasure of seeing perform live. I came for a music show and instead received a comedy set (coupled of course with her incredible musical talent). The unique Ms Clare Bowditch has been quite a busy woman of late, with the release date of her latest EP creeping closer and closer, combined with travelling all over the country on her Winter Secrets tour with the equally captivating Lanie Lane. On the 10th of July Clare stopped by the Governor Hindmarsh in Adelaide and treated her fans to an intimate and highly theatrical show.

This was that second time that I had seen the Melbournian play and once again, she did not disappoint. The vast floor space at the Gov was littered with candlelit tables and chairs, and it did not take long for punters to fill the seats. Bowditch stepped onto a wonderfully decorated stage adorned with all types of folk-pop goodies including a red velvet couch, gorgeous grand piano, fairy lights, deer antlers, and of course, numerous bright, colourful flowers placed all over the shop. If you didn’t know she was a folk singer before, the pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together.

A wealth of “yeahs” and “woos” were thrown at the stage as the vivacious ginger-haired songstress entered, to which she replied simply, “good to be back”. With that we were underway.

From the get-go Bowditch’s hilarious and endearing personality shone through, as she sang to her tech crew to alter certain aspects of the sound mix as she was “sounding like Darth Vader”. It was truly refreshing to see an accomplished artist have such a relaxed approach to both their performance and the music industry in general. She does not take herself too seriously and for that, I adore her.

Next up came an acoustic cover of Queen’s We Will Rock You, which got the crowd clapping in time and singling along. The energized audience bopped and swayed in their seats, with a few of the keener patrons throwing their arms in the air (because they clearly just didn’t care).

As Bowditch approached one of her most well-known tracks, Divorcee by 23, she exclaimed, “if you can talk, you can bloody well sing,” and sent an open invitation through the crowd for someone to join her on stage. A young man by the name of Chris got his hand up first and proved to be one of the highlights of the night – the boy could sing! The duet was absolutely beautiful and I would not have been upset if he stayed on stage the entire show.

Another person whose stage presence I thoroughly enjoyed was Bowditch’s ditsy compadre, Sydney songstress, Lanie Lane. The two synced perfectly, both musically and comically. Their banter was absolutely priceless, often continuing conversations onstage – so much so that at times it seemed they had forgotten we were there at all. I found myself genuinely laughing at their gags, which is not something I always expect when going to a concert. Musically speaking, the Australian duo are a perfect match, bringing together stunning harmonies and contrasting guitar riffs to melt your heart. Oh and their cover of Bruce “the man” Springsteen’s classic I’m on Fire? Don’t even get me started, I love that song and I love their cover. Vunderbar.

Wrapping up her first set, Bowditch introduced the crowd to her bizarre and outspoken cousin, Lady Bow: agent of the stars! Lady Bow, who aside from a different outfit, hairstyle and accent, looked and sounded uncannily like Mrs Bowditch herself, showed us some mind-blowing dance moves and kindly gave us her three sure-fire tips to achieve superstardom: 1. Get on TV and be brutally honest 2. You need a gimmick – such as her two pairs of sunglasses on the top of her head, and 3. “take freely” – just take a good song and record your voice over it.

Donning a large black afro, a woman suspiciously similar to Ms Lanie Lane joined Lady Bow on stage and danced as Bowditch’s accomplished cousin sang a pop track through auto tune. So much synth and so much fun. The two had the crowd in stitches, myself included. Lady Bow then left the stage, played off by her ‘theme song’ – the audio from Arnold Schwartzenegger’s work out tape – as an impressive imitation of Julia Gillard announced intermission.

Clare returned to the stage after a ten-minute intermission and the crowd let her know that they were glad to have her back. Bowditch embraced this and returned the love by inviting yet another lucky crowd member on stage to play drums for her. She continued her interactive set, instructing the mob to sing the harmony for many of her songs – even splitting the room into sections so that each sector would resonate a different part. Although highly ambitious, I must say that we sounded superb! I was very impressed with both the crowds ability to hold a note and the fact that more than three-quarters of the room were game enough to sing at the top of their lungs in such a small, intimate venue!

So yeah, I can now say that I have sung with Clare Bowditch, don’t be too jealous.

Lanie Lane then joined Bowditch on stage once again and the duo performed numerous tracks that Ms Lane had written herself – including her first single What Do I Do which she invoked the crowd to perform backing vocals. It was an absolute treat to hear Lane’s swampy blues tracks, the winner of Triple J’s Unearthed competition for Sydney’s BDO this year has been described accurately as the spirit of Muddy Waters inhabiting Doris Day. She is just lovely. Amongst the final songs, the ratbag duo took time out to answer a few questions that the crowd had written on the “Creative Questions for Clare Bowditch and Lanie Lane” board that had been passed around earlier. Questions ranged from favourite cereal, whether they would chose invisibility or flight as a superpower, to how they first got into the music business – the latter such questions giving fans a rare insight.

Leaving the performance I could not honestly tell you whether I had just seen a musical show or a stand-up comedy gig. Do not get me wrong the girls sang, and boy did they sing well, but if either ever thought about hanging up their guitars, they could easily get a gig in comedy. I cannot sing their praises enough! According to Bowditch’s website, “Statistics show that of the 255,000 people Clare Bowditch has performed for, 99% fell in love with her (or at least, they thought she was “alright”),” I would say that this is at least 99.95% (best TER you can get in SA) accurate and would include myself in that aforementioned 99%. Kudos.