Often Saturday nights are best spent in the company of close friends rather than a crowd of strangers. However, the sincerity of the trio of acts to grace the Tivoli’s stage tonight may prove these experiences can be one and the same.
Melbournian act, Olympia, packs a lot of punch for a small package—a package wrapped in a platinum-blonde bob and shimmering white jumpsuit, that is. Singer-songwriter Olivia Bartley appears dwarfed by her electric guitar, but this only adds to the instant endearment already formed by her bubbly personality and warm smile.
Although Bartley is often accompanied by a live band, she plays solo tonight and treats the audience to a number of tracks from Olympia’s debut EP released earlier this year. Bartley’s presence is in no way lacking, however, and is multiplied with the skillful use of a loop pedal.
Perhaps appropriate to her stage name, Olympia’s melancholy vocals and minor chords have the potential to transport the listener to an ethereal, otherworldly plane. To the unaccustomed, however, the set may drag closer to the dreary side of things. Nevertheless, Olympia exits the stage to loud cheers and leaves the audience in ready anticipation for what is to come.
In a night celebrating singer-songwriters, Sydney-based Patrick James is next to serenade the now mostly-full Tivoli crowd. Accompanied by a full-band, James’ performance immediately amps up the ambience to something more like a rock show. With a banjo in full-force, it wouldn’t be a far stretch to hear similarities to the musical stylings of Mumford And Sons and even Boy And Bear.
Playing a mix of unreleased material and songs from his newly-released EP All About To Change, James’s acoustic-guitar-driven folk-pop leaves the crowd with just the right amount of buzz in anticipation for tonight’s headliner.
Not before too long, still and strong lights flood the stage with a vivid royal blue. The crowd erupts as the man of the evening, Josh Pyke, walks calmly into the light. Appropriately, a gold spotlight glows up from below as he plucks the sombre opening notes of “Goldmines”. Kicking off with this track from his 2005 EP Feeding The Wolves is somewhat surprising, but Pyke proves his creative fluidity and shows he’s not one who’s afraid to return to his roots.
This is made even clearer, as the recurring symbol of the wolf adorns the entirety of the back wall behind the man of the hour and his band. Some aesthetics stand the test of time, it seems, and Pyke’s beard is no exception. One could see a bit of sprucing up apparent in his gold-tipped shirt collar, however, and this could arguably be reflected in his performance.
Pyke seems to radiate a fresh zest as he launches into clear crowd-favourites, the upbeat “Memories & Dust” and “Forever Song”. Meanwhile tracks such as “The Beginning And The End Of Everything”, from his newly-released album of the same name, receive just as much love as the old favourites.
Most punters appear happy to simply and serenely inhale the inspiring flavour of Pyke’s performance, but there are the odd few who can’t resist rocking along. After all, it’s pretty damn great and just a bit poetic to be able to farewell the last day of Winter with songs like “The Summer”.
Very fitting, perhaps, for Pyke has surely mastered his own distinct form of poetry. He has the ability to articulate lyrics which resonate achingly close to the strings of the heart and soul—both of which he seems to put into his performances. Pyke himself even seems to get caught up in the intimacy and nostalgia as he muses, “playing these songs gives me a chance to reflect on all the cool shit that’s happened in the last 10 years.”
In spite of the surplus sentiment, the singer’s set is in no shortage of joy. 2008’s feel-good anthem, “Make You Happy”, is positively infectious and spreads smiles across the thousand or so singing faces adorning the Tivoli tonight. Enough so for Pyke to admit, “I think this is the best show of the tour!”
The Sydney singer-songwriter puts a false end to his set (warning no one to spoil the surprise) with the harmonica-fuelled current single “Leeward Side”. The unanimous “encore” cheers almost seem unnecessary, but Pyke entertains the idea with his feigned absence before returning to the stage.
After an enjoyable and essential performance of his first big hit, “Middle Of The Hill”, Pyke is left to his lonesome to perform the final song of the night—“Bug Eyed Beauty”, the harmony-driven leading track from his new album. Armed only with a loop pedal and his own sincerity, Pyke defines the meaning of poignancy and delivers the perfect ending to this new musical beginning.
