With support Dallas Frasca, Juan Albanese and Kgari Gawnga

Xavier Rudd mesmerised 1500 people for two hours with his powerful one-man show at Eldorado on Saturday night.

The wait was certainly worth it, with Rudd having to cancel the original concert date in February due to illness.

First-timers could have been tricked into thinking that a whole band was making the sounds of Rudd’s upbeat rhythms and uncluttered arrangements, but it was Rudd with his customised stage set up. He used every part of his body to play his acoustic guitars, drums, didgeridoos, stomp box, harmonica and many other instruments that surrounded him.

Rudd looked at home among the gum trees at Bilyana’s beautiful natural amphitheatre when he opened with one of his well-known tracks ‘Solace’. The cheer from the crowd showed that they agreed and from then on it was hard to keep them behind the barricade.

‘Messages’ followed and soon after ‘Fortune Teller’, but the crowd was getting so excited that Xavier had to ask them to step back. He continued with a cover in ‘Famine’, which is a brilliant and meaningful song about the cost of living rising beyond people’s means. Rudd threw in many tracks from his latest album Food In The Belly including opening track ‘The Letter’. His resonating sound only got better with my favorite ‘Let Me Be’, then ‘Food In The Belly’ and the beautiful ‘The Mother’. He broke off into an instrumental, playing faster and slower and showing his amazing talent. Rudd would only return for an encore if everyone sat down and they did. He lasted another four songs including ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and lastly ‘Green Spandex’.

I don’t understand how he can keep up his concentration for that length of time and recreate his songs with such ease.

He is an absolute pleasure to watch.