The East Brunswick Club was the lucky host of a fun, drunken and comedic performance by Bob Evans aka Kevin Mitchell from Jebediah. The club is located in one of the less attractive areas of Melbourne but has the charm of youth and artistic lifestyle flows through its neighbouring streets.
The Perth singer songwriter took to the stage following Ned Collette and Skipping Girl Vinegar, by which time the room was packed with eager punters, anticipating a good old fashioned sing along to the J Award nominee’s back catalogue. And boy did Evans deliver!
The music of Bob Evans is, more or less, vocals accompanied by acoustic guitar. It’s very raw and laid back, winning the hearts of many people over the past three years since his debut solo album Suburban Kid was released.
Curiously, Friday Come Five (the single that introduced the alter ego of Mitchell to the world) did not appear on the set list. But I doubt anyone noticed. The audience seemed to be more familiar with Evans’ second album Suburban Songbook.
Evans was accompanied by a three-piece band and opened the proceedings with Nowhere Without You much to the delight of the crowd. Some of the other sweet melodies that were plucked and theatricalised throughout the evening were Don’t You Think It’s Time, Friend, Sadness and Whiskey, Don’t Walk Alone, The Great Unknown and the hidden album track Me and My Friend.
From the less well known debut album Suburban Kid, the audience heard My Big Mouth, Turn and, during the somewhat orchestrated encore, the beautiful and soulful realisations of For Today.
The set list was well chosen and complied to slightly boppy and country style numbers; a style of music that Bob Evans has made his own. But one of my personal favourites was a surprising cover of fellow Perth band The Sleepy Jackson’s Come To This. Bob Evans’ rendition was spectacular as he managed to apply his own unique musical style to this peculiar track, without butchering its bold charm.
The atmosphere of the evening was summarised by a choir of drunken punters who couldn’t help but belt out the lyrics to Bob Evans’ infectious collection of tunes. It was one of those truly magical musical moments. Bob Evans didn’t put a foot wrong and it was a wonderful night of good music and amusing banter. The crowd was in the zone and you couldn’t help but smile, sing and dance along to Bob Evans’ stripped back melodies.
I recommend you see this suburban kid if you have the chance because he definitely doesn’t disappoint.
