Taking a year off from rocking with Powderfinger, Bernard Fanning has released Tea and Sympathy this year to wide ranging success, critically and commercially.
Obviously with the Powderfinger fan base, the album, with a touch of controversy, premiered at number one on the ARIA charts. The songs are emotive and catchy, the band is superb and the production by Tchad Blake is downright spot on.
So Bernie and friends decided to take the album out to a select few cities and shows around Australia and showcase them in an intimate fashion. Tonight, they fronted up to the Sydney Theatre and played each and every tune from the release.
The buzz and anticipation was obvious in the foyer and a mix of critics, fans, and the curious came along to hear how the tunes came across live.
Bernard was joined by a wonderful combo of musicians who gave us not simply mirror images of the disc, but warm, soulful renderings of the tracks.
Which Way Home and Wish You Well, two of the more rock like numbers were well received and the crowd was enraptured by the perfect sound and delivery of the material. Tchad Blake’s influences, from his days of producing just about everyone, seem to pop quickly into my mind as I sat and grooved. I heard strains of Crowded House in The Strangest Thing and Ron Sexsmith vocal similarities in Believe. Of course, these are good comparisons, because Fanning pulls off all the styles with style.
Futher Down the Road and Hope and Validation were beautiful. Superlatives escape me. John Bedggood on all things with strings added depth and vocals throughout the night and is a very special musician. Besides the music, the camaraderie amongst the band, or the group of Hobbits as he referred to them, was an affirmation of artistic joy and positive energy.
At one point John broke into playing Remedy by the Black Crowes and Bernard sang a verse or two, before dissolving into laughter.
Even the heckler who had a few funny things to say (and a few boring things too) could not ruin the mood. The room fell apart when Bernard said all women seem to want to have a man like George Clooney and the heckler said “Not mine”. But Bernie had the perfect retort, “Ahh she wants her boyfriend to be like me”. The large population of women in the audience did not disagree!
A more joyous spectacle of music and people I have not seen in a concert setting in awhile.
Don’t miss Bernard and the Hobbits in February at a theatre near you.
