Performing to a sold-out crowd within the beautiful Spiegeltent, Kate Miller-Heidke captured the crowd from the moment she hit the stage and held them right through until the very end.
The ever-delightful Miller-Heidke, accompanied by collaborator and husband Keir Nuttall delivered a tight one-hour set, executed with expert precision. Banter with the crowd was brief yet charming, with a focus placed on ensuring the audience were able to experience as many songs as possible within the limited performance time. Utilising her phenomenal vocal range, Kate delivered a mix of old and new tracks including the emotionally engaging ‘Caught In The Crowd’, as well as a beautiful song which she wrote with Tina Arena last year detailing the turmoil of supporting a friend in an abusive relationship, moving a number of audience members to tears.
Not one to dwell on a moment of sadness, Kate regularly lifted the mood by adding tunes filled with biting humour and charming wit. With a voice to make angels sing, the occasional ‘bad word’ comes as a hilarious shock, but her gentle nature allows obscenities to fall from her mouth like drops of sunlight.
With a background in classical vocal techniques, while it almost felt like she was showing off, she did it with such casual and bashful ease the crowd fell in love with her time and time again. Probably the only person in the world whose shrieking could be described as gorgeous and melodic, Kate Miller-Heidke truly enthralled the crowd.
Noise bleed from nearby venues within the bustling area created a minor distraction however the spellbound crowd barely seemed to notice as all eyes (and ears) were focussed on the stage.
Wrapping up the hour with what began as a stripped back version of her first single from back in 2007, ‘Words’, the song built into an astounding performance complete with complex layering and looping. A well-deserved standing ovation closed out a stellar hour of entertainment.
