Lior, The Blue Ruins @ TheStreet Theatre, Canberra(22/10/11)

Mon 24th Oct, 2011 in Gig Reviews

On Saturday night Lior sold out The Street Theatre with his By Request tour. He gave the audience all they could ask for and more and no one left feeling anything less than satisfied.

Folk / roots duo, The Blue Ruins opened up for the well-known Australian artist. The Blue Ruins consists of Kate Watts on vocals, acoustic guitar and stomp box and Allan Watts on electric guitar and vocals. This father-daughter duo from Bega has been circulating their powerhouse act through Canberra over the past twelve months. However, the same act, time and time again gets a little repetitive. Whilst their set is captivating and original, when storming the tiny Australian capital these talented folk are going to have to come up with something new.
They played their regulars from their current album, including the heated and passionate Fire Up and title track, Tin Pot Alley, as well as showcasing their usual Tommy McClennan cover, Baby Don’t You Want to Go. Kate then introduced some newer tracks, Better Manic and yet another song about the music industry.
Kate struggled to capture her audience as well as she usually does in such a large venue, as her raw vocals seem to be better suited to filling a small pub or bar.

Lior and his five-piece string section opened their part of the evening with the beautiful Grey Oceans, from Lior’s debut album, Autumn Flow. Other highlight tracks from this recording were the most requested song of the evening, Daniel, as well as title track Autumn Flow and closing number, This Old Love.

The concept of the By Request tour was to have audience members email Lior with their vote for favourite track and a cover song they’d like to see him interpret. This created all kinds of craziness, mostly with Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer meets sesame street tune. It was all a little scarily upbeat. Other tracks ranged from Radiohead’s No Surprises to The Beatles And I Love Her. Lior even covered some of his all-time favourite songs, like Rufus Wainwright’s Posers and a song written by Carole King and performed by James Taylor, Up on the Roof.
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When the band walked off stage and claimed to be done, the crowd wasn’t having a bar of it. They roared and screamed and stomped their feet, until Lior returned to the stage. He got back into the swing of things with one last requested cover, Don McLain’s Vincent. For his last original track, Lior found himself in a bit of a pickle. Although this was the second most requested song of the evening, it was a duet and he couldn’t face singing it alone. He invited any lady from the audience who knew the song and was game to perform with him on stage. A young lady named Lily joined him, and they performed what was originally a duet with Sia, I’ll Forget You_. To round out the night Lior chose a cover of his own, a flawless acoustic version of the famous Nature Boy.

Lior’s presence and banter were captivating and memorable but nothing can beat his performance. His unmistakeable sound is ever lasting and his vocal performance is utterly flawless. He played every song with such conviction and treated even covers as if they were his own masterpieces. He played songs he’s been playing for years like they were brand new hits, with not even a hint that he could ever get sick of them. Lior is an artist who lives to please an audience, making them laugh, smile and sometimes even draw a tear.