Laura Marling @ Sydney OperaHouse (09/02/12)

Sat 11th Feb, 2012 in Gig Reviews

Laura Marling, petite, blonde and out-scaled by the Opera House Concert Hall, exudes a maturity and confidence not usually befitting a 22 year old. She’s one you imagine to sound a certain way and then blows your expectations out of the water.

Walking on stage with her band, they immediately get the gig underway with The Muse, the first track off A Creature I Don’t Know, with rounded strings and a jazzy piano. And for the first half of the gig, they proceeded to play the album in order.

The live performance was saturating. Every swell of strings, every finger-picked guitar note, every vocal nuance was enveloping. Her voice is incredible, inspiring of awe. It’s dark and deep and hundreds of years old. It lends the lyrics the authority they need to be believable coming from someone so young. The lyrics are rich and complex and speak intelligently, poetically about life, love and womanhood, blending fables and emotion with cryptic ease.

Beyond the music, it was Laura Marling herself who made the night. She was as magnetic as she was sweet. She filled time between songs with polite banter and facts. Facts like “The Queen has six units of alcohol a day”. Facts that sometimes turned out to be more like anecdotes revealing where she found inspiration, even if she joked that it was “appropriation”. And more facts about the Queen, such as she “can drive a car. She has a manual license.”

Her banter between songs was sparse, but rather than alienating the audience, it brought on a sort of impatience for when she would next interject. Though the venue is huge, there was an intimacy where single members of the audience would directly talk to her (that is to say, shout “We love you, Laura”).

After the interval, the songs off her previous two albums got a look in. Ghosts was met with a massive cheer, before the crowd hushed and gave their undivided attention. She introduced her band and with each member came a new fact, in-joke or chord lesson. Her humility was enchanting and she was seemingly surprised to be performing somewhere as iconic as the Opera House, “This will be one of the most memorable nights of my life”.

Laura Marling and her band worked together seamlessly, changing instruments according to the song and its demands. The quality of musicianship was startling, the range of instruments and the limits to which they were pushed was impressive. However, it was the hauntingly beautiful solo performances, with nothing but her guitar and her luscious voice that truly washed over the Concert Hall and stopped the audience dead.

It was a special night, intimate and indelibly fun. Laura Marling proved that alongside her uncanny song writing skills, she has a natural ability, that rare talent, to captivate and charm an entire audience.