The Governor Hindmarsh is Adelaide’s sentimental live music home. It is looked upon fondly by punters, just like our Coopers Beer and our Fruit Chocs [chocolate coated fruit balls, mmm…]. The venue has seen such awesome acts as Grandmaster Flash, The Whitlams, Tex Perkins and You Am I play in the warm and inviting back room and tonight was a chance for Lior to return to The Gov to leave more musical memories behind.
Opening for Lior were local all-girl three-piece Fruit. These three girls who now live all over the world (one in Adelaide, One in Melbourne and one in Seattle) have been doing the hard yards, touring the world for the last few years gaining a great reputation and good support everywhere they go. This was definitely the case on the night with a really large crowd getting to the venue early to see the girls play which was really cool. This was the seventh time the girls had played at The Gov and they announced to the crowd that they were glad to be home.
The best way to describe Fruit’s sound would be acoustic pop with horns. The way the three connect on stage is refreshing. Their mix of haunting harmonies, rock, folk and ballads make it quite a show. Playing songs off their latest release, Burn, they seemed to really be having fun and enjoying themselves and they definitely pulled a solid show out the bag for the home crowd.
The roar when Lior stepped onto the stage was huge. This was no normal, standard, run of the mill gig. Lior was being recorded for Triple J so the punters were really into it. Lior was in town to promote his new live album, Doorways of My Mind – Live at the NSC. Now for someone to release a live album after only releasing a debut album (And what a great debut Autumn Flow was!) before it is gutsy and I too was a bit of a skeptic at first. But after listening to the CD and seeing the live show I can see why it was released. Those lucky enough to have caught a Lior concert will know what I mean. The way he makes his shows so powerful, dynamic and upbeat yet at times soft and passionate takes huge talent in itself.
Playing songs off his highly acclaimed debut album, including ‘Grey Ocean’, ‘Daniel’ and ‘Bedouin Song’, whilst mixing in a couple of new songs, Lior really had the crowd excited. Also featuring on the set list was the live favourite, ‘Diago and the Village Girl’. Of course the biggest roar and applause for the night was saved for the striking hit, ‘This Old Love’. This was not the highlight for the evening however. This came when Lior and his band decided to play the song, ‘Superficial’ which has a two-piece drum section requiring a second drummer. Lior announced to the crowd that his manager normally does this but instead he wanted a drummer from the crowd to play the second drum part. Enter Tim. The song sounded great with Tim helping Lior’s drummer and even getting the opportunity to play a solid drum solo, surprising most people with how well he could play! A once in a lifetime…captured for JJJ.
Lior had the crowd captivated and seemed like he was really happy to be there, interacting with the crowd, including introducing his guitar tech who he met last time he was in Adelaide and poached him to tour and look after all his guitars. The band really complimented Lior’s individual musical ability and the three-piece strings arrangement was the icing on the cake.
Singing the haunting sounding prayer, ‘Avinu Malkeinu’ to finish the show, anyone who may have had doubts about Lior’s vocal capabilities were shut up very quickly, truly amazing. This was the last time for fans to catch Lior for the rest of the year due to him going back into the studio to produce his second album, which should only strengthen his position as one of the best independent artist going around.
