Return of the Ginger-Dread Man

Went to see Newton Faulkner last night in Sydney, and I was absolutely blown away by his performance.  I knew, from his album and a few tv appearances that he was bloody good, but to see it live was something else!!

His style is a mix of fingerpicking, hammer-on/pull offs, slides and of course his trademark bongo-styley beats which run throughout many of his songs which he gets from hitting and tapping the body of the guitar.  The sounds he gets out of an acoustic guitar - admittedly going through a distortion/sustain pedal at times - are mind blowing.  Fantastic harmonics, drum beats, great melodies and to watch him in one song moving the capo mid song and then de-tuning and re-tuning notes to give a whammy bar effect was awe inspiring.  What can't he do??

If you ever get a chance to catch him live - do it.  He's got a real monty-python sense of humour too, which was nice to hear!  The encore - although he openly admits he doesn't see the point in walking all the way off stage to come back on again, so just stayed on stage whilst people shouted for more - was stunning, culminating in a performance of Bohemian Rhapsody which he wanted to do on Radio 1's Live Lounge a couple of years ago, but realised it would take a bit more work to get into his style.  So a culmination of about a year's worth of fiddling with the tune produced a stunning performance.  I've found a copy of it on Youtube (last night's performance) so you can see it here.

Sarah Bareilles was supporting in her first Australian gig.  She's an american act who had a number 1 in Oz, and probably in the UK with her song 'Love Song'.  Cracking vocals, bit of a jazz/blues mix with a pop overtone.  Of course being the support act, didn't get the reception of Newton, but she was deserving of one.  I reckon there'll be plenty more from her in the future - I'll definitely try to get to see her on her own in the future.