An eerie opening performance by Gordi, with her deep, soulful voice and loop pedal, set the tone for an evening of acoustic, indie bliss at Thebarton Theatre in Adelaide (12 May).
And then came Missy Higgins, her pregnant belly an exciting new accessory. She sat without a word at the keyboard and glided effortlessly into ‘All For Believing’, as couples throughout the auditorium settled in to experience a night of love and heartache.
With the weather as unpredictable as it has it has been over the last week, flights to Adelaide had to be rerouted and rescheduled meaning that Missy and her band almost didn’t make it – “but we’re so stoked we did”.
“Gordi messaged me earlier when it looked like we weren’t going to make it and she said, ‘I’m across all the songs if you don’t get here in time; I can just stick a basketball down my top, hopefully no one will notice’; and I said you’ll have to learn how to walk like a constipated hippo too, so have fun with that,” Missy joked.
Favourites '49 Candles’, ‘All In My Head’ and ‘Everyone’s Waiting’ had the sold-out theatre singing along.
“It’s been a while since I’ve performed at the Thebby,” Missy reminisced. “I supported so many bands here back in the day when getting my start, like John Butler Trio and The Waifs – so many happy memories from my beginnings here, it’s nice to be back.”
Before launching into a string of songs from her recent album ‘Solastalgia’, she explained the shift in tone and message behind most of the songs.
“After the birth of my first child I became very aware of the environment and conditions, which we live in. I got into a lot of apocalyptic literature and became obsessed with zombie movies, so ‘Starting Again’ [first song on 'Solastalgia'] is about our shift in point of view as new parents and having to start again from the beginning.”
The new album would not be complete without the love songs we have come to know and love from Missy, and following her prophetic-demise theme ‘Red Moon’ and ‘Don’t Look Down’ shared stories of love in apocalyptic world.
The album's lead single ‘Futon Couch’ followed, along with the story of how she met her husband while visiting a friend in Broome. She first caught a glimpse of him while sitting on a futon couch in her friend’s house, when he came out of his room after having just had a shower “looking very fresh”.
Described as one of her most up-beat love songs, the audience swayed along hanging on every word that told the story of the life and love between herself and her husband.
“I don’t like to do an encore, so I’ll just play an extra couple of songs if you guys are ok with that!? I hate when bands don’t play their most popular songs and then leave the stage and go well they’re obviously going to clap us back on stage now… [I] just think it’s a bit arrogant, and then I don’t have to make you clap all the time; save all your soft, little hands.”
She closed the refreshingly-relaxing night of Australian music with her biggest hits, as promised, ‘Scar’ and ‘Steer’.
With the birth of her little lady approaching we hope that we might be treated with another album in the days, months or years to come; whenever it happens Australia will be ready.
