In the midst of a crowd of people both young and old, hippy and hipster, displaying at times an alarming lack of shoes, Ben Lee shared his spiritual journey with those at the Paddington Uniting Church. Celebrating the release of his new record, Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work, Lee and his tourmates took the small audience through a symbolic death and rebirth, attempting to enlighten and awaken.
It was clear from the beginning that it would be an interesting night, as evidenced by the crowd of people clutching cushions they had brought from home, as requested on the event’s information page.
While the small crowd shuffled in and made selections from the gluten free buffet, Nadav Kahn performed a pair of Sanskrit chants and a pair of Hebrew chants to spiritually prepare the audience for what was to come.
American husband and wife duo Avasa & Matty Love were next on the bill, performing a number of acoustic songs. While they were vocally adept, the duo were let down by all too frequent missed notes on the guitars (a consistent theme throughout the night) and very repetitive lyrics. Nonetheless, they were a pleasant addition to the evening.
Next up was Appleonia, the most recent effort of former Home And Away starJessica Chapnik Kahn – a frequent Lee collaborator and co-writer of Ayahuasca: Welcome To The Work. Moving from an indie rock sound to garage rock riffs that would make Jack White proud, Chapnik Kahn and guitarist Adam Van Wielingen produced a solid and highly enjoyable performance, undercut by some truly bizarre lyrics.
As Lee appeared from the back of the church, his hometown crowd welcomed him with enthusiasm. After a lecture from his Peruvian spiritual teacher, Juan Ruiz Naupari, it was time for the main event. Lee described it as more of a prayer than a concert, and the more he played, the more it felt like a church was the perfect venue.
Lee and his supporting performers then began to reveal his new album, a process punctuated by anecdotes about each song and flashes of his trademark cheeky grin. Though the harmonies were tight, songs like “Samael”, a love song to the angel of death, felt a little bit ridiculous at times.
Wrapping up his new material, Lee arrived at what he called the “dessert” of the show, playing a few of his most popular songs. Rattling off “Gamble Everything For Love”, “Catch My Disease”, and “Into The Dark” in quick succession, he finished with “Song For The Divine Mother Of The Universe”. The crowd’s enjoyment of these songs was obvious, with real energy present in the whole audience for the first time that evening.
There are many words to describe this concert. Esoteric? Unique? Perhaps, but the main word that comes to mind is “interesting”. From the Sanskrit chants, to a love song to the angel of death, and back to “Catch My Disease”, there was never a dull moment and the crowd were always entertained. It was inaccessible in places and some of the musicians could have benefited from more practice, but the atmosphere made it worthwhile.
Although Lee’s spiritual enlightenment is an intriguing thing to witness, the real highlight for the majority of attendees was the small sample of his catchy pop repertoire that ended the evening. Hopefully Lee will soon be back to his quirky, toy piano-playing, pop-singing best.
