A classical looking yet somewhat grungy sounding Grace Woodroofe is singing the blues to an already full house. The mythical Perth singer songwriter is no stranger to the limelight and clearly knows how to warm up a Perth audience.
It’s not surprising considering her meteoric and fairytale rise to fame. The legend goes something like this; Woodroofe meets Heath Ledger, Ledger introduces Woodruff to Ben Harper who takes a shine to her and the rest is history. Truth or fiction she can certainly belt out a rock song and her deep husky voice is on fire tonight.
An extended interlude is broken by a hairy unimposing figure quietly walking around the stage and finally taking a seat at a keyboard. A few piano notes ring out, fingers are cracked, followed by some more random notes which slowly take the form of a melody. Then that unmistakable voice confirms that, yes, Matt Corby, can play piano just as well as he can play guitar and sing.
Corby is adored by his fans from the start, various members of the audience, both women and men, confessing their undying love for him during the first song, others demanding he “take it all off” later when he pauses to remove his jacket.
Corby takes it all in his stride, flattered yet humble, almost embarrassed by the adoration. The quietly spoken musician thanks everyone, picks up his six string and the launches into the next song as a full band enters the stage.
The show goes from cruisy piano man to all out rock fest in an instant. The dimly lit stage becomes a barrage of blinding light. Fireballs fall from the sky and it looks like the heavens are caving in. The simple but surprisingly breathtaking lightshow works well to enhance the mood and the overall impact of the performance.
Corby’s soaring vocals lead us through a whole suite of new and funky material. The powerful and perfect vibrato of his vocals sends shivers down the spines of tose in the theatre.
Mid-show the band exits and Corby solos The Black Keys’ “Lonely Boy” in a slow rock ballad format, working his voice octaves north and south of the equator. He pauses at the end of the song to politely and tactfully, request the audience switch off video cameras and enjoy the show, here and now with him.
Completely in control and unshaken, he is the Zen master and the audience are his students. They love him for it and the troubadour can do no wrong.
An unmistakable electric blues riff fills the theatre and the very sexy “Souls A Fire” has everyone gasping as he lets off some electric blues licks even the great guitar god Jimi Hendrix would be proud of.
Just when it seemed it couldn’t get any better Corby performs his hit song “Brother”. It doesn’t matter that the song has been thrashed on commercial radio stations across the nation for the past few years, hearing it live brings an entire new life to it. Punters see the pain on Corby’s face and hear the suffering in his voice as he hits notes so high and so low like only he, and few others can.
A masterful and visually stunning performance, the singer is all about perfection and quality over quantity. The Matt Corby experience is a sensory assault full of emotion, drama and excitement sure to leave one both inspired and high on life yet drained at the same time.
