Local lads Texture Like Sun, performing tonight as a three-piece, down from their normal six-piece membership, put in a highly impressive opening salvo, beautifully opening the night for the arriving crowd.
Creating a woozy, almost hallucinogenic sound and vibe that recalled some great bands like Mazzy Star, The Jesus & Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine (minus the sonic/volume mayhem), this was the kind of music that makes the listener simply close their eyes and get lost in what is being created before them.
Lead singer Cesar Rodrigues has a powerful and evocative voice that reminds one of a young Thom Yorke from Radiohead. A really effective way to kick off the night.
Making her first record at the tender age of 16, Bettye LaVette is one of those 50 year long overnight sensations many have never heard of.
The owner of one of those big, brassy female voices that can caress your soul one minute and knock you off your feet the next, the woman has a god-given vocal talent that is impossible to ignore.
Backed by a cracking four piece band, LaVette had a beautifully warm and personable vibe to her, very politely asking for the front lights on stage to be turned down so her “face doesn’t melt off,” a great indication of her gentle sense of humour.
This was, in her words, “the 50th Anniversary Tour, which was following the ‘Who The Hell Is She?’ tour!”
Kicking off with “Say The Word”, even in her late-sixties, Ms LaVette was as vocally fiery and powerful as she has ever been.
What is so heartening about listening to LaVette sing is the utter sense of control she has over her voice and simply knowing what to deploy vocally and when to do it.
In an age where many singers over-sing to get what they think is emotion across to their listeners, LaVette is a pertinent and powerful example of how sometimes less is more.
The set list consisted of a striking mix of her material and cover versions. Of her own compositions, the startling and moving “Choices”, a last minute addition at the request of an audience member, was a moment felt in the bones; such was the power of how LaVette, both vocally and physically, inhabited the song.
Tributes presented included “Crazy”, “Nights In White Satin” and an astounding take on “Love Reign O’er Me”; this wasn’t any glorified karaoke night you could see down at your local.
LaVette is in possession of a true gift, where she can take a song to where the original author and audience hadn’t even thought of.
Case in point: Neil Young’s “Heart Of Gold”, with the band recasting the song as a soul ballad, LaVette mined emotion that never existed before in this beautiful track.
The encore basically left the entire crowd speechless. LaVette, left on her own onstage, sang “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got”, an old Sinead O’Connor track, a capella.
Without the aid of a microphone, the moment she wailed – so loud you could have heard it the next suburb over – jaws dropped.
Here’s hoping Ms. LaVette is back to perform her unique brand of mouth surgery soon.
