The holy trinity of young, Australian indie artists descended on Sydney's Hordern Pavilion (29 March) and it felt as though the whole of Australia had flocked in to worship.
The attire? Festival. The atmosphere? Chill, yet buzzing with excitement. The dance? Ballet or interpretive – depending on your talents and how much wiggle room you’ve found in this ever-growing mass of followers.
Speaking of talents, let’s talk Eliott. Put her behind a mic and she comes off small, sweet and trepidatious. But add an instrument and some lyrics to her kit and she instantly transforms into this big, bolstering powerhouse of a woman.
Passion ebbs through her veins as she tests her vocal range against the heavy beats and even heavier lyrics of tracks like 'Calling' and 'Over And Over’.
Sadly her repertoire is limited, featuring favourites as well as songs less than a week old. But each tears you apart and I doubt I’m the only one here who wishes they could have heard more.
Now openers are often chosen to resonate with the headliner’s style. And while Eliott hits all the emotional heartstrings of Matt Corby’s works, following act Blessed exemplifies the opposite end of the Corby spectrum: that of rhythm and dance.
From the moment he takes the stage, Blessed is larger than life. He’s loud, he’s confident and he works the crowd like a seasoned artist.
Chatting in between tracks, he flirts constantly with the ladies, at one point dropping this stunner: “Matt Corby makes the pretty girls cry. I make the pretty girls dance,” before dropping the beat onto a floor that gets slicker and slicker, until he finally slides off to the beat of 'Superfly'.
Corby then takes it down a notch. No ten notches, greeting us with the sorrowful 'Light My Dart' off his latest record 'Rainbow Valley'. It’s expertly measured, sombre and introduces us to his seven-strong choir of back-up singers, guitarists, drummer and keyboardist.
Poised in position, spotlights halo each musician in angelic form as they dance with Corby in song on a plane these worshippers can only pray to reach.
Matt is a maestro on stage, his voice jumping seamlessly across ranges as his hands tickle keys, guitar strings, drum sticks and flute holes.
He apologises sometime during his set for forgetting lyrics, but no one in the audience has noticed; all of us too entranced by the god that stands before us.
A plethora of new tracks spill off the page, including 'No Ordinary Life' and 'All That I See', but he’s careful to stuff in favourites intermittently to keep those smiles on faces and those voices on squeal.
This includes 2017 stunner 'Brother', which opens with a peach spotlight firmly centred on Corby. You can literally hear hearts skip beats as he lets out the first series of “whoops” before the song explodes in a clattering of instruments and the stage lights up spectacularly.
He strips it all back with the soulful 'Empires Attraction' then sets feet in motion for 'Resolution'. Revellers are hoisted on shoulders, arms waving, eager for more of the classics.
But it’s newbie track 'Miracle Love' that polishes off the night. In an anthemic finish, Corby calls to the crowd to chant his gospel. With the choir behind him in full swing, the venue obliges imploring the heavens above to “bring back that miracle love. Bring back that miracle love.”
Amen, brother.
