Three years after it was first planned, An Evening with Marlon Williams finally arrives in Adelaide (although his band did play a truncated set in late 2022 at Harvest Rock) to complete the tour, this final night ("show 41 of 41") added after the original Adelaide show sold out.
Marlon has described country music, one of his first loves, as being able to convey both emotion and irony, and it's fitting that this 'Evening with' is a show of two halves, the introspective opening set (later referred to as the "sad boy set") beginning with the brief haka 'E Mawehe Ana Au'.This early on, Marlon appears mostly as a silhouette lit from behind, his hoodie partially obscuring his face. It suits the tone of the material being performed as he sits at the piano, side-on to the audience and plays the melancholy 'Beautiful Dress', 'Come To Me' and 'Trips'.
He remains pensive throughout, but almost breaks character momentarily when there is audience laughter as he repositions himself to centre stage and takes up a guitar, clarifying: "We must all maintain the tension in this set."
'Arahura' and then 'Dark Child' are played standing up before Marlon, in a subtle jokey reveal, throws back his hood but then pauses to fix his hair in his onstage shadow in the lead in to 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face', a pun that may have gone over the heads of many of the audience.
Marlon rounds out this set with the first of several Māori waiata performed throughout the night, demonstrating his increasing confidence in immersing himself in his Māori heritage, a preview of a planned future Māori language album.
The mostly contradictory levity of the second "manic lounge set" begins with an uplifting infectious sing-along of 'My Boy' as the audience joins in with the "doo doo woo woo" refrain in Marlon's karaoke performance, the '80s new romance of 'Thinking Of Nina' performed in quick succession.
Following this double punch of song and dance performed to pre-recorded backing, Marlon settles at a homely chair and table set up onstage and pours himself a drink from a whiskey decanter.
Homage is paid to his country influences starting with Townes Van Zandt's 'Rake' dedicated to his namesake the late Justin Townes Earle to whom Marlon belatedly apologies for stealing his marijuana backstage at The Gov one night.
Marlon continues with covers by Lonnie Johnston ('Looking For A Sweetie') and Slim Whitman ('I Remember You') before returning to performing his own material (via the Kacy & Clayton collaboration 'Plastic Bouquet') with 'Devil's Daughter'.
There are further Māori waiata, including 'Aua Atu Rā' with an in-song spoken translation and Marlon performs the gospel of 'Huri Te Whenua' on his knees, playing with a vocoder device for choral effect and demon-possessed vocal.
He returns to the piano for 'Princes Walk' and this is followed by a sincere but amusing performance of 'Hoiho' with the accompanying black and white moving images of the yellow-eyed penguin projected behind him. This set comes to a close with the drenched in reverb 'Promises' during which he jumps off stage and wanders among the audience.
For the encore he gives way to requests, telling the audience: "It feels like everyone is angry at me," in response to their varied shouted demands but does play 'The Ballad Of Minnie Dee' within his planned set that includes 'Lonely Side Of Her', returning to the piano for a final pairing of the haunting 'Love Is A Terrible Thing' and 'Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore'.
'An evening with...' certainly lives up to expectations, acting as an intimate retrospective of sorts for Marlon's career thus far, demonstrating the timeless quality of his varied output and collaborations, his Māori waitata performances a welcome taster for future exploration of his cultural heritage.
