Tonight, The Gov was in quiet, attentive mode.  The small crowd of about 150 actually listened to the performers rather than insisting on prattling on as if they had a God-given right to drown out the amplification.  This suits a performer like Jude Elliot to a T and she made the best of the opportunity.  Her songs are strong if not immediately memorable, you know, the kind that seem always to have something about ‘dreams’ in them, but her voice has tremendous light and shade that keeps an audiences’ attention.  This is definitely an artist to watch and if you’ve had enough of Missy Higgins whining on, Jude Elliot will be a breath of fresh air.  I’d love to hear her with a tight band where she has the potential to sound like Joni Mitchell on Hissing of Summer Lawns.  Now there’s a prospect!

When Richard and Linda Thompson are your parents, you shouldn’t just walk onstage, you should be trumpeted in on golden clouds by a host of Cherubim and Seraphim.  Not that I wanted to put any pressure on Teddy Thompson, but I needn’t have worried, he was more than good enough to be great on his own merits.  Teddy’s 2005 album Separate Ways is already a contender for minor classic status, crammed with solid gold songs and not a second of filler to be heard.  Although this was a solo acoustic tour minus his band, he strolled on stage and gave a masterclass that every aspiring troubadour in Adelaide should have been compelled to come and see.  I can’t think of a single area where Teddy Thompson didn’t excite and excel.  He has his dad’s dry, laconic humour and could charm an audience away from a free bar.  His voice is like Jackson Browne’s dipped in Baklava and his songs have more killer hooks than a pirate’s convention.  Shine So Bright is the perfect opener, but even that was topped by the slacker-chic of I Should Get Up and if his tongue was buried any further in his cheek during Turning The Gun on Myself, he’d have needed oral surgery.  For those who know that Rogue’s Gallery is the best compilation album of the decade, he treated us to a jocular version of Sally Brown.  Could a show be better!  Well, actually it could have been if The Gov hadn’t put Nosferatu the Vampire in charge of lighting.  What is it with venues that think stage lighting should be the equivalent of a 40 watt red bulb dangling from the ceiling.  C’mon guys, artists this good deserve to be in the spotlight.  When Teddy Thompson returns to Adelaide the crowds will be hanging from the rafters.  Be there.