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Michelle Shocked + Glenn Skuthorpe Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Thurs 29 Sept Appearance-wise, former Sydneysider now Adelaide-resident Glenn Skuthorpe casts an imposing impression with his hulking stature and tattooed arms. Musically, he crosses between the measured everyday storytelling of Springsteen and the white-man blues of Steve Earle. He's definitely one to catch should you see his name somewhere. Shocked's backing vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Richard Armstrong stepped to the microphone to call for any takers for a bout of "Shockeoke", originally devised as a means to clear the set of older staples to make way for newer material but now used as an icebreaker to ready her audiences for what's to come, using the actual studio master tapes for accompaniment. Sarah from local Celtic party-band Whiplash was first to the mic, and after shunning the aid of a lyric sheet she delivered an impressive version of Hello Hopeville, followed by Kim with Prodigal Daughter. Next in line was Warren, who much to his initial reluctance was dobbed in by his companions: despite knowing nothing of Shocked's material. With a little gentle guidance Warren not only displayed a great voice, he also managed to quickly pick up Memories Of East Texas and became the crowd choice; so much so that he was later invited by Shocked to share a duet on the song. Anthea was next up, this time to perform Shocked's signature tune, Anchorage. Armed with a variety of sundry percussion instruments, a harmonica and trumpet, Armstrong was finally joined by Shocked (with a continually troublesome acoustic guitar requiring a tuner to be permanently clipped to the head) who began her set with Fogtown, followed by the beautifully plaintive but extremely pained Come A Long Way, with Anchorage completing what she termed as her "city trilogy". Supplementing many of her songs with an explanatory monologue, often as an aside in the middle of a piece, Shocked showed no qualms about giving her audience a generous serving of what many of us wanted to hear: (Don't You Mess Around With) My Little Sister, Yamboree Queen, Prodigal Daughter (Cotton Eyed Joe), Homestead, If Love Was A Train, V.F.D. and When I Grow Up. Of her three new, simultaneous-released CDs, Shocked concentrated mainly on the 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' album this night, including the sombre Evacuation Route and Don't Tell, and the euphemism-filled Jump Little Rabbit before finishing her set with the tragically inspired Graffiti Limbo. After returning with the powerful anti-war a cappella of The Ballad Of Penny Evans, Shocked attempted to relay her understanding of Australia's current political climate only to be rudely met by constant interruptions from an ignorant, possibly over-pissed audience member and thus chose to cut her encore short with a final solo-voice performance of Billy Bragg's Tender Comrade. Shocked is one amazing songwriter and performer with a hell of a voice: and judging by the way she decided to handle that final situation, I think most would agree she's also one hell of a woman - even though we were all cheated out of a few more numbers because of one arsehole in the crowd.  |
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