Kate Miller-Heidke is a small girl with a big name and an even bigger vocal range. Kate had sold out two of her three shows at the Judith Wright Centre and after seeing her show on Thursday night, it’s not hard to understand why.
The night kicked off with Andrew Morris. A lot of the time a support act is something you simply sit through and ignore until the real performance starts. This was not the case with Andrew as he kept the crowd nicely entertained with a variety of tunes from all of his albums. Usually accompanied by a backing band, Andrew did a great job of holding the audience’s attention on his own. The highlight of the set was his cover of Neil Young’s Harvest. Andrew finished the set with Don’t Know Love Anymore, a fantastic track which can be found on his first album.
Kate Miller-Heidke started her set with the title track from her latest EP Circular Breathing. What followed was an amazing set that seemed to get better with each and every track.
Kate had the audience in stitches with one of her newer tracks, Australian Idol. Kate lamented the fact that she had been told by friends and family that she should enter. The song ends with Kate telling the judges to shove it up their arse. At least she can take comfort in the fact that her family does think she would win should she ever decide to enter.
Not long after, Kate left the stage and her guitarist Keir Nuttall performed a great track that he has been working on at home. Piece of Shit is Keir’s musical review of everything from Australian Idol to the OC.
Following a costume change, Kate rejoins us and pays a tribute to Britney Spears and her new ‘do. She then stuns everyone by breaking into cover of Spears’ song Toxic. Not suprising that the cover far outdoes the original with Kate rocking the stage and breaking into an operatic freestyle at every chance.
The highlight of the night was certainly Kate’s performance of The Space They Cannot Touch. Kate and violinist Sallie Campbell amazed the audience with this heart warming duet. The song received high rotation on Triple J however seeing it played live is truly an experience.
The perfect end to a perfect evening was found in the encore which included Kate performing a very moving cover of Joni Mitchell’s The River and finishing with with an operatic version of Talking Head’s favourite Psycho Killer. This reminds the audience once again that Kate’s musical abilities and interests are as vast as her vocal range. With a voice that seems to cut right through you and a warmth that fills an entire theatre, Kate Miller-Heidke is a performer not to be missed.
