The Tallest Man On Earth/ Firekites/ Matt Banham
Sunday 12 October
Grace Emily


On a simply glorious spring evening that required some serious effort to draw everyone in attendance out of the beer garden, Matt Banham kicked off proceedings off with a solo set of fairly morbid folky acoustic songs. Though far more direct and less poetic than the main act of the evening, he provided an enjoyable opening as the crowd sat down and marked out their plces for later on.

The Firekites' gentle indie pop was certainly well-suited to the Grace, even if thye were a somewhat strange choice to support their label mate, the lush, layered sounds they produced a world away from The Tallest Man On Earth's lonesome wailing. The layers of keys, acoustic guitars and at times violin were certainly very enjoyable and really grew on everyone in the audience, and rarely have the flashing fairy lights behind the stage better suited a band's sound.

A long break then followed before The Tallest Man On Earth began his set, which was somewhat surprising considering that he was playing solo, but from the moment he began singing the opening song form his self-titled album, I Won't Be Found, the crowd were transfixed. When he followed it up with the beautifully poetic The Gardener, he'd opened with two of the strongest songs from the album and set himself up perfectly. Performing solo meant that the live performances were pretty similar in sound and structure to the album versions, though he seemed to achieve a richer, fuller sound that suited the comfortable surround of the Grace, replacing the often lonesome sound of the sparse, home-recorded album. This was no doubt partially due to the fact that he stuck to acoustic guitars, changing instruments just once during the set and not pulling out the banjo at all.

Despite his grand moniker, his short stature meant that even on stage Kristian Matsson hardly towered over the audience, and he encouraged the crowd to squish in so that everyone could see. By the time he played Honey Won't You Let Me In and asked for a beer to quench his thirst, several audience members rushed to accommodate him. For the most part, however, he eschewed between song banter, instead noodling around on his guitar and wandering the stage as he changed the tunings. He did step up to the mic to introduce a Holly Throsby song from her latest album that he'd obviously fallen in love with, and To Begin With suited the sparse arrangement and his impassioned delivery very well, providing a pleasant diversion from his often intense performance. Another cover ended the set, a traditional take on Bascom Lamar Lunsford's Old Stepstone by Bascom Lamar Lunsford before the crowd persuaded Matsson into one more song. Despite a request for The Blizzard's Never Seen The Desert Sands he palmed it off, saying he hated that song and instead played Where Do My Bluebirds Fly and walked off stage to an extended round of applause. During the set he promised that he'd be back to play some more shows next year, but after such an enjoyable show this time around, it's unlikely you'll catch him in such an intimate venue.

Alexis Buxton-Collins