Reviewed: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Michelle Shocked, Kev Carmody
State Theatre, Sydney - 23 April 2011
By Liveguide Contributor - Don Macleod
The State Theatre in Sydney is a beautiful old majestic building and perfect location for this kind of show. Kev Carmody opened up proceedings in a very brief 20 minute show. It was all too brief unfortunately. The crowd was getting into the show and Kev, as usual was responding and interacting with them beautifully. He finished with a brilliant version of 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' before Michelle Shocked hit the stage.
All of her gear was already set up around the stage so it was a relatively quick changeover. Just a move of Kev’s stool to set up a campfire and Michelle Shocked is ready to play ball. She hit the stage on her own & went straight into 'Anchorage' as her band gradually joined her on stage. Unfortunately the band didn’t hang around much after that which is a shame as they were a very tight unit. This later became illustrated when she left the stage for a song that the band played on their own.
For mine however there was too much banter and not enough songs. five songs in a forty minute set doesn’t sit well with me. Kev Carmody did five songs in half the time and still had entertaining story telling banter. It’s not all bad though. I had time to get step out for a pizza and beer at the ubiquitous Irish pub around the corner with a U2 cover band playing and be back in time to not miss anything.
Now Buffy Sainte-Marie is an artist that I must confess had slipped me by. I hadn’t heard much of her stuff before the show, (I was mainly here for Michelle Shocked and Kev Carmody). One thing I do know now is that I will be seeking more of her albums out. A simple but tight three piece band of guitar, bass and drums and Buffy on acoustic, piano and a mouth harp. A device not that dissimilar to a small hunting bow and played a bit like a Jews harp. It sounded great.
She ripped through a full set of both new songs and those covering her extensive career. There was a certain irony in the introduction of 'Universal Soldier', in that it was written about the Vietnam War but still holds relevance to today’s wars. What have we learned? Not a lot it seems.
The night finished earlier than I expected, but the full set from Buffy more than made up for the earlier short sets. All in all a very entertaining evening. Now to see if that U2 cover band is still playing around the corner.
For more information on the artists check out their websites below
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Michelle Shocked
Kev Carmody