When the man of very few words – Matt Corby – walked on stage to sit behind the keyboard in the cool, night air at Flinders University Plaza (9 April), I briefly flashed back to his last concert, almost three years ago to the day, and wondered how it could possibly have been that long since he had been in Adelaide.
These thoughts were short lived, before his deep, soulful voice brought me back to enjoy yet another poignant performance.
Matt opened with a handful of songs from his 2018 album ‘Rainbow Valley’ and accompanying single releases including ‘Light My Dart Up’, ‘No Ordinary Life’, ‘All That I See’ and ‘New Day Coming’. All of which perfectly celebrated his latest album and the reason of his current tour; and showed the crowd a new aspect of his musicianship.
Old favourite ‘Monday’ was given a slightly new folky/ jazzy vibe, that to be perfectly honest is difficult to describe, or explain just how effortlessly his voice flowed through the air.
Image © Lisa Vincent
Other favourites ‘Brother’ and ‘Resolution’ were also peppered through the set list, showcasing his ability to perfectly hold notes and freestyle mind-blowing trills that had the entire crowd bowing down to his glorious voice.
In typical Matt Corby fashion, he was a man of very few words. Towards the end of the evening he announced “it is cold” and that he only had a few songs left to perform for us “if that was ok?”; as if anyone in the crowd was going to disagree.
Before his final song, ‘Miracle Love’ arguably the best from the new album, he thanked us for being a delicious crowd. To which an excited fan responded: “You are delicious.” With a slight chuckle, Matt replied: “Thanks man, I heard that.” Before he proceeded without missing a beat. Not even the hundreds of shivering people standing in the fresh, night air staring only at him could come between this groovy, laidback, Aussie and his music.
Image © Lisa Vincent
As we all huddled together walking out the narrow exit trying to get to our warm cars, people could not stop talking about what we had just witnessed. “My body is still tingling after that.” “How is it even possible that he can sound like that, it’s nuts.” These were just some of the comments I heard. To all of which I wholeheartedly agree.
This man puts the rest of us '90s kids to shame. A gift that simply can not be denied.
