Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses,Tex Perkins & The Band of Gold@ Factory Theatre, Sydney(13/11/11)

Wed 19th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Tex Perkins has long established his stature as one of the nation’s greatest songwriters and performers. The task of opening a show for a man of his stature would be a difficult for many acts. Luckily Tex decided that this could all be avoided in a simple way, going all out and playing two sets, playing support to himself. A result of having not one but two albums out recently and a chance to further stretch his vocal chords. Having played 2 hour long sets for his Man In Black Stage Show.

To open the show Tex was backed by the ever capable Band of Gold consisting of Shannon Bourne on ukulele, guitar and pedal steel, Shane Reilly on guitar, Steve Hadley on double bass, Dave Folley on drums and Rachael Tidd on backing vocals who have been honing their skills as the house band for the Man In Black shows. The group took the audience off the beaten track and treated them to a set of country classics. That included tracks by Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Townes Van Zandt.

This set was far from the beer swilling tunes of the Beasts of Bourbon or the Cruel Sea; who are set to do a lap of the country next month. Rather it was a sedate performance, where the band let the songs speak for themselves. Perkins soulful baritone was wonderfully counterpointed throughout the set by Rachel Tidd. The relaxed atmosphere onstage was passed onto the audience who quietly let the set wash over them and offered polite applause after each track.

Despite the strength of the first set it was always the original songs that were going to shine more brightly than a set of covers and this was proven true when The Dark Horses took to stage. Having assembled a crack team of talented musicians that switched instruments so frequently that it became difficult to determine who was playing what. Needless to say Charlie Owens playing was a standout particularly when he took to playing slide guitar. It was disappointing that it took until the end of the set for him to play lead guitar and only for one song.

The hour long set saw a great selection from The Dark Horses back catalogue and Tex Perkins was more than happy to talk to the audience on varied topics. These included frequent introductions of backing vocalist/guitarist/bassist Joel Silbersher and discussing naming his next album struggles after some minor set difficulties.

High points of the set included the bluegrass inspired Her Own Life and the band channeling Springsteen on So Much Older. After the main set finished the band returned for the obligatory encore. We were spoiled by a run through of She Speaks a Different Language and having the members of The Band of Gold join The Dark Horses onstage for an emphatic finale Things Don’t Seem Bad After All. The double set only further proved Tex Perkins stature as one of Australia’s great songwriters and should go a long way towards exciting punters about his next tour around the country with The Cruel Sea.