Beth Orton @ The Gov, Adelaide(22/01/2012)

Fri 27th Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

It’s easy to be distracted during the Adelaide festive season by its abundance of events and large festivals and miss a really special occasion such as Beth Orton. The still many who attended on this glorious summer night were met with a performance so extraordinary and special, that attempting to describe it would not quite do it justice. Nevertheless, this writer does have to try.

First and foremost, the elusive and exceptional Ms. Orton was not joined on stage by a band. This was stripped back to simply her, an acoustic guitar, a piano and her overwhelming and remarkable voice. This was as intimate as it could be with the only issue being that The Governor Hindmarsh was packec with hundreds of people lost in admiration.

Once she had begun her performance, the audience were left so stunned in awe that dropping any loose change would have seemed a deafening noise. Starting with Heart Of Soul then leading into She Cries Your Name, Ms. Orton effortlessly exposed her own soul, subsequently capturing all who were witness to this revelation into a trap and transforming the entire setting into a near religious experience. Simply stunning. Touch Me With Your Love added some versatility with Beth’s voice adding some strange yet engaging spoken word parts to the intricate song. Not Much More To Say provided a more upbeat feeling, counteracted by Sweetest Decline, which became more like a cry for affection providing more evidence for the feeling of the song. This conversion was like watching an actor at their finest and it affected the whole atmosphere surrounding the polite English songstress. Beth is a true Queen of her craft.

From here a rendition of Conceived was executed brilliantly and sounded like a recorded version, not a live concert. This was followed by a newer song Candles which quickly encouraged an immeasurable amount of excitement amongst the crowd. A move to the piano with a shy admittance that it was not her strong point was quickly disproved by Safe In Your Arms which also pushed this folktronica genius’ voice to seemingly impossible levels. Sugar Boy, Shopping Trolley, Concrete Sky, Central Reservation and crowd favourite Stolen Car were played practically consecutively with no interruption nor fault either. An encore thankfully followed, consisting of Someone’s Daughter and Pass In Time, but in all honesty at this point, the whole evening had become a blur of English Folk prestige.

To the royalty that is Ms. Beth Orton, thank you for sharing your amazing and abundant talent with us once again. We will miss you until your return. Please make it sooner rather than later.