It’s 5 minutes until the opener and 45 minutes before Newton Faulkner is due to tread the boards at The Factory Theatre in Sydney (1 April) and the atmosphere is stiflingly chill.
In fact, it’s so laidback there’s even someone sitting on a stool at the front of the stage.
From the looks of the crowd, who prefer to remain scattered throughout the venue rather than pushed into the pit, you wouldn’t assume the artist at play would have six albums under his belt (not that anyone’s counting).
Though you might assume that he is a Bluestfest-playing, tea-drinking, shoeless maestro who hasn’t performed in Australia since 2013. In which case, you’d be correct.
But despite not having stepped on our shores for five years, it’s not the quantity of the crowd but the quality that really sings this man’s praises.
Following a stunning performance by local Iluka, who’s signature, retro-pop sounds come married with a sense of effortless joy, Newton Faulkner emerges out of the dark.
Hardly recognisable since his last manifestation down under, the folk-pop artist has ditched his iconic ginger dreads for a more mature updo. It’s a move that works in tandem with his latest records, which have evolved away from quirky ditties told with hand-gesture dances into emotional stories told with rich melodies.
Once on stage, the man of the hour wastes no time getting into his set rewinding the clock with ‘To The Light Again’ off his 2007 breakout album ‘Hand Built By Robots’ before dropping us into the deep end with ‘Smoked Ice Cream’ - the leading track of his freshest record, ‘Hit The Ground Running’.
As the second verse eats into the bridge the audience pips up in a display of passion and loyalty singing “ba-ba ba-ba ba-da-da-da” much to Newton’s surprise and joy. He couldn’t be further away from home, he glows afterwards, and yet we just did what his homeland England has not.
It’s a mistake on our part, he chides a few songs later, as now he knows he can “make us do things”, abusing his power on stage a few songs later to split the crowd and turn us into human loop-pedals on ‘Clouds’, ‘Hit The Ground Running’ and ‘Far to Fall’. We’re all too happy to oblige.
Ever the larrikin, much of Newton’s set is filled with anecdotes and banter, mostly in retaliation to the euphorically heckling crowd as they request songs, retort his musings, remind him how many records he has and question his on-stage drink choices, which primarily consist of hot water and honey and not tea as he’d originally posed.
At one point he even jokingly covers his chest with his guitar, calling it his “wooden bra of joy” after a heckler requests to see his tits.
Call it English humour or call it good showmanship. Whatever it is, it’s Newton’s quirk and it’s what makes his live performances so amusing and addictive.
Breakout hit and overall crowd pleaser ‘Dream Catch Me’ catches us three songs from the end. It’s followed by ‘Passing Planes’, a little boogie of a track off his penultimate album ‘Human Love’ that gets the crowd moving.
In true Faulkner form there is no encore, Newton preferring to push through until curfew. This is not for our benefit, but because he’d prefer to avoid the forced clapping and the awkward feeling of having to walk off stage only to find himself in an empty room for a spin.
Instead, he launches into a three-song medley, or “smoodge” as he likes to call it, of three of his next-best hits: ‘UFO’, ‘Gone In The Morning’ and ‘Write It On Your Skin’.
“You’ve done three things,” he says as he moves into the medley’s final track. “Sung, clapped and danced… but do you know one thing you haven’t done yet?” he asks. “Jumped.”
Laidback crowd? Not anymore.
