Paul Dempsey, Ben Salter @Annandale Hotel, Sydney(2/11/2011)

Mon 7th Nov, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Absence can make the heart grow fonder. This phrase couldn’t of struck more true then on Wednesday night when Paul Dempsey returned to Sydney to captivate a packed Annandale Hotel. Having pulled up sticks in Australia to live in Brooklyn over the past year there was a palpable excitement in the air for his return.

Ben Salter was first to grace the stage and midway through his set, he stated that in the past he had played the Annandale stage before with a total of four separate acts now. This experience shone through with his professionalism onstage. With only his vocals and a guitar Salter treated the crowd to a wonderful set of tracks that mined his long back catalogue, featuring tracks heavily from his debut solo album The Cat. Despite providing several challenges for the sound engineer by constantly veering from the setlist, he produced a set of charming songs. Salter has a voice that is perfectly suited to shows like this, it is powerful and affecting without being overstated. Perhaps most well known for his work as the frontman for The Gin Club and mid set he played Ten Paces Away. The track stripped of the backing band let the dour lyrics shine through. Salter finished his set on a high with a cover of Smokey Robinsons’ classic Tracks of My Tears. Leaving with the only disappointing part of the set being the crowd chatter throughout the back end of the set.

Paul Dempsey needn’t have worried about crowd chatter throughout his set. From the moment he set foot onstage all mouths were sown shut and eyes glued firmly on the tall man. Dempsey opened the set with an untitled new track that immediately displayed the influence relocating to New York has had, with Brooklyn being name checked early on and the lyrics conjured up images of urban skylines. This was the start of a mammoth set that stretched out for two hours, during which Dempsey played a set that borrowed tracks from his well received solo album Everything Is True, Something For Kate classics and some choice covers.

An early set highlight was the cover of the Leonard Cohen classic The Future. Introduced as a song about the end of the world. Dempsey’s minimalist version accompanied only by his guitar let the songs lyrics shine. The tension created within the packed room was palpable and the audience hung upon every word Dempsey sung with the chorus “they said repent, repent” becoming an oppressive force by the conclusion of the song. It was a true touch of class that Dempsey balanced this out by following it up with the uplifting Ramona Was A Waitress. Plenty of other tracks from Everything Is True got a run through early on with the Fastest of Friends “a song about being in a room with a bunch of rich people” being played alongside first single Airlock.

While in New York Dempsey has spent his time playing small solo club shows. This experience showed in his improved ability to communicate with the crowd. His wry humour provided much entertainment for the audience throughout the set. This did not mean that the awkward moments of were completely gone, but they have been a long held trademark of a Paul Dempsey set. Another new track named Survival Expert was also road tested. This one was introduced as a possible new Something For Kate song, and contained all the creative guitar playing and observational lyricism expected of Dempsey, and was greeted at its completion with rapturous applause. Late into the set a cover of The Afghan Whigs was dedicated to Salter who had seemed to slip away early in the night.

Finishing the main set with Bird In a Basement Dempsey exited the stage to only re-emerge seconds later informing the audience of his distaste for encores but conceded that they were a necessary as if he was to not leave the stage the audience would be disappointed as they have become an expectation for all shows.The encore treated the audience to a helping of Something For Kate classics with Beautiful Sharks being played first before a few requests were taken. Say Something sounded as immediate and enjoyable as it did back in 2003 and its little wonder that Dempsey was more than happy enough to play it.

The most requested song for the night was unsurprisingly Captain and despite all the cries from the audience to hear it played these fell on deaf ears. I guess that they will have to buy tickets for when Something For Kate comes back to hear it, I know I will.