Simone Felice @ The Vanguard,Sydney (7/9/2011)

Mon 12th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Simone Felice, singer-songwriter, novelist and former member of The Felice Brothers was finally able to make it down to Sydney and share his endearing song writing with his fans. Two tours that were lined up previously were called off due to some food poisoning (bad venison) and then he had open heart surgery prior to bringing his line-up of The Duke and The King here in June 2010.

With just a guitar and a stage presence eased with a bit of Scotch, Simone started off with what is one of his most gorgeous songs, If You Ever Get Famous. With an audience that was well versed in his music, the reception was overwhelmingly positive. Simone worked the silences between his songs with a nice silence, maybe gathering his wits, and then breaking into a smile or a chuckle or a story about his home in the Catskills outside of New York City. Before the audience sing along on The Morning I Get To Hell , he said he had a hallucination about playing a song with bells strapped to his leg to accompany him as he flew to Australia, and he struggled to attach said baubles to his leg.

Simone covered a large patch of songs from his two releases as The Duke And The King. He played with soulful joy and captured the images and places that inhabit his songs achieving what you want in music. You felt transported to the place and understood the emotion that was driving the song. Summer Morning Rain is a delightful song that with further treatment would be a fabulous pop song and_Shaky_ came across with the wit and charm of the man.

One More American Song, brought some people close to tears as it described the personal aftermath of war on the ‘king of bottle tops’; Your Belly In My Arms (an old Felice Brothers Song) seemed to stir up some emotions within the man himself; and the covers of Helpless, a sing along to Dylan’s Heavens Door, and the driving delivery of Springsteen’s Atlantic City framed the night well.

Felice was here in Australia mainly to deliver readings (as he did on the evening) for his new novel Black Jesus, but this set was a taste of what an excellent songwriter he is. We look forward to him returning to our island nation with his band and new album in the year to come.