Heavenly Sounds

Last night, discovering a late heat change in Melbourne when I arrived into town, I met Jane on the steps of St Michael's Church for our evening. Being ushered in, and being handed a leaflet for the night, we took our seats at the next available pews, as the room filled. Deceptive from the outside, this space is round inside, with the curved seating facing the gigantic church organ, with the stage set up in front of the alter for our night of secular music.

First for the night was the hilarious Henry Wagons, who gave us his country folk songs, which channeled a little Nick Cave on vocals and delivery. With Save Me, Love Me Like I Love You, a song about staying away from his sister dedicated to all the men in the room, his take on The Gambler with crowd number selection participation, and Willie Nelson, he entertained and had the room laughing through the heat.

Opening with the Bring Me Back, the girls of Seeker Lover Keeper then took to the stage, and filled this holy place with their harmonies right from the start. Exactly what a space like this is for!

After the second song, with Sarah Blasko and Sally Seltmann on keys together, Sarah talked about how shocked they were at the heat. Holly Throsby, on the other side of the stage mentioned that she had been just fine, which started the banter for the rest of the night. Reaching for water, then Sarah remembered that the audience was advised not to bring drinks, etc, given the venue, and expressed her guilt. She placed her bottle on the stage edge in case any of us needed it!

Tracks from the album such as Everytime and Theme I were lovely. Holly then joked about them not being sure whether to play the next track, a cover....Sinner, from the They Will Have Their Way compilation was gorgeous.

In the middle of the set the girls did a song from each of their solo back catalogs, with a SLK flavour to it, with Sarah's Bird On A Wire, Holly's amazing What I Thought Of You, and Sally's Emotional Champ, being a tribute to the emotion sharing of these friends over the journey of this supergroup this year.

Other album highlights for the night included Rely On Me and Going To Sleep. Rest Your Head On My Shoulder, being introduced as the first SLK song, penned by Sally, is one of my favourites. Along with No Regrets, which was fairly early in the set.

The encore was their Stevie Nick's tribute, a cover of her Wild Heart, which is just gorgeous, before finishing with the amazing Even Though I'm A Woman. What an amazing night, given the novelty of the venue, topped off by the performances of these three amazing Aussie singer-songwriters. Such a beautiful, uplifting and heart warming gig.