Last night’s sold-out Orville Peck gig at The Corner Hotel (16 January) saw an extremely excited Melbourne crowd turn up, after apparently rolling themselves in glitter and adorning themselves with cowboy hats, Dolly Parton t-shirts, bandanas and more fringe than an Elvis jumpsuit.
You could be forgiven for wondering if Midsumma Festival had started a little early this year, witnessing the welcome for the first Australian tour by the famously and fabulously masked gay country music man – Orville Peck.So enthusiastic was the crowd that the merch fairly flew off the table (quietly, but quickly) during Gena Rose Bruce’s well-received and rather gorgeous opening set.
She’s a bit noir and also a bit more, blessed with a captivating and lush voice, and singing impassioned tales of longing and love, mostly from her album ‘Can’t Make You Love Me’.
After a brief changeover and intermission that was punctuated by Joni Mitchell and Hank Williams tunes, Orville and his band took the stage.
Orville introduced himself by paying homage to a certain legend of baritone with a simple: “Hello, I’m Orville Peck.” You could hear a broad smile, even beneath the shimmy-shimmy stripper fringe that conceals his (probably) impossibly beautiful face.
He was decked out in fringe, stardust and the obligatory mask, looking every bit as gorgeous as his fans. Playing mostly songs from his debut album ‘Pony’, he opened with the sweeping and majestic vocal vehicle ‘Big Sky’, which he followed with drag anthem ‘Queen Of The Rodeo’.
Engaging and funny on stage, he advised the crowd to attend more drag shows: “Drag is the last subversive art form! Go see it!”
Peck’s mask conveys mystery and serves as a naturally protective device for the artist, he’s said, but it never obscures his beautiful vocals.
His songs are sometimes frantic, often tender with a creeping desolation and a hint of the dangers that surely lie ahead for cowboys and cowgirls, urban or otherwise. And that voice can limbo – it can go low down-down to the ground and it can go up-up falsetto high, right up to the rafters with equal ease and effectiveness.
The choice in songs as well as his own song writing displays a very fine taste in music and respect for some of country music’s greatest artists.
The band swings between country and punk effortlessly, their punk influence is particularly evident on the dramatic hell-for-leather ride ‘Nothing Fades Like The Light’.
Crowd participation was high all night (the gift of a Johnny Thunders t-shirt scored a fan an invitation to the stage and profuse thank you's and a lingering hug), including a bit of whistling for a hilarious and energetic ‘Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)’. Ecstatic “yahoos” echoed around the room.
There are two duets for Orville and his right-hand woman, multi-instrumentalist and singer Bria Salmena, throughout the night: ‘Something To Brag About’ (George Jones and Tammy Wynette) and ‘Oooh Las Vegas’ (Gram Parsons and EmmyLou Harris).
The show ends with a barnburner version of Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Fancy’.
If you love country music, go see this show. Even if you don’t think you love country music, go see this show. I guarantee you will “yahoo!”.
