Dan Sultan and Alex Gow @ TheBasement, Sydney (16/7/11)

Mon 18th Jul, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Despite the weather outside, it was anything but chilly inside Sydney’s The Basement as Alexander Gow of Oh Mercy, and Dan Sultan took to the stage. The sold out crowd was buzzing with anticipation as Sultan thanked them for coming along and said he was humbled to be playing at such an iconic venue that has previously hosted the likes of James Morrison, Paul Kelly and Tim Finn.

After a handful of opening tracks together Gow went solo, and with a croaky voice made it through his beautiful, crowd-silencing tunes with the help of a ‘witch-doctor magic drink’ as he called it, in a white teacup from the barman. It’s anyone’s guess as to what was in there, but it did the trick and he showed us just what he was capable of. The collection of Oh Mercy tracks, including the popular Stay Please Stay captured the talented songwriter’s witty and emotional rationale of various life experiences. Launching into his finale, a Springsteen cover on piano, his voice could take no more so he made his apologies and dashed offstage.

Sultan seemed a little nervous as he sat in front of the ivory keys, but he shouldn’t have worried. You could have heard a pin drop as the crowd shut the hell up, and heard every bit of emotion that he shared – Old Fitzroy could have won awards for a live performance. When he picked up his guitar and really settled into the set it became clear though, just why he is loved so much. Solid, strong vocals and a teensy bit of attitude, mixed with the gifted song-writing skills of Scott Wilson, he really could do no wrong. The crowd hung off his every word and it was simply a showcase of one of the greatest talents the Australian music scene has provided in a while.

Both sets provided comedic value, with lots of crowd-initiated banter and stories, related or not, to introduce songs. A revived Gow joined Sultan back onstage for the end of the night, which included a tribute to Paul Kelly in the form of To Her Door. Highlight of the night? Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down – genius. Nights like this are rare and never forgotten.