City Recital Hall, Sydney
Sunday April 1, 2018 :
Down a back alley in the city I arrived to the unassuming front entrance to the Sydney City Recital Hall. As I walked through the main doors I found a foyer bustling with energy and anticipation of the night ahead, and bells chiming to indicate it was time to enter the hall as the gig was about to begin. This was my first time at the City Recital Hall and inside the venue was spectacular, with multiple levels of stalls overlooking the seated audience and stage below.
Soon the lights went down and ethereal beauty Woodes emerged from the darkness, blonde hair flowing over the most stunning gold dress, looking every bit the front woman, flanked by two bandmates sitting comfortably in the shadows. Playing their biggest show to date, Woodes’ set kicked off with ‘Rise’ and ‘The Thaw,’ which pulled the entire crowd in from the outset, a beautiful sound sitting somewhere between Aurora and Vera Blue, yet one that is somehow all of her very own.
Things took an atmospheric turn with ‘Northern Lights’ and ‘Still So Young,’ before they played their recent Triple J Like A Version cover of Vance Joy’s ‘Lay It On Me’ which, to be completely honest, I like so much more than the original. Keeping the energy high with ‘Run For It’ and then the oh so sweet ‘Origami,’ before wrapping up their set with ‘Dots,’ the applause from the audience was overwhelming and clearly I wasn’t the only one they won over on the night.
After a short break the lights went back down and my heart started to palpitate as the enigmatic Icelandic artist Ásgeir took to the stage with his band in tow. Ásgeir is one of my all time favourite musicians, who’s music I have such a strong connection to, and having seen him play live several times before in a shortened down festival set I was overjoyed to finally see him play a full performance in such an amazing venue with absolutely breathtaking acoustics. And my word, did he deliver.
The set began slowly, creating a wonderful atmosphere with ‘Hold,’ followed by ‘Higher’ and ‘Here Comes The Wave In,’ with Ásgeir’s amazing falsetto vocals enveloping the crowd before him. As the music began to build so did the lighting, with LED poles scattered across the stage pulsating in time with the music, while shafts of light from above poured down over the band while playing ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Head In The Snow,’ followed by the most incredible rendition of ‘In Harmony,’ sung is his native Icelandic.
Ásgeir is a man of very few words, only addressing the audience a couple of times throughout the show to say thank you, but it is his quiet, reserved nature that I find so intriguing, the fact that he gives so little away always leaves me wanting more. When the opening chords to ‘Afterglow’ were played I noticed movement in the captivated audience for the first time, with more than a few phones slowly being held up to record the magic. The set round out with crowd favourites ‘King and Cross,’ ’Unbound’ and the ever lovely ‘Going Home.’
After a short break Ásgeir returned to the stage alone, lit by spotlight with guitar in hand to perform a beautiful rendition of ‘On That Day,’ before the rest of the band joins him for the encore performance of ‘Stardust’ and ‘Torrent’ which had the entire audience on their feet giving the band a well earned standing ovation.
Reviewer and Photographer : Chrissy Kavalieros
ÁSGEIR
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WOODES
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