Words & Strings
Festival Theatre
Tuesday 2 December


I've never been much of a fan of being seated for a show and I often wonder just how musicians can gauge their audience when they can't see them up and dancing to their tunes. Nevertheless, the Festival Theatre is a wonderful venue which was more than fitting to be graced by a pair of very talented songwriters as a part of the Adelaide International Guitar Festival.

This year the Festival has shipped in a host of talent from all around the world, with Grammy Award winner Jesse Harris something of an unknown quantity to Australian audiences. He opened the evening in a somewhat tentative fashion, reluctant to engage the crowd and instead opting to allow his musical talents to do the talking. That said, his set was absolutely gorgeous. There was a comfort in his performance as he eased into it equipped with a 6-string banjo, and paired with percussionist Robert DiPietro. Harris demonstrated his talents with tracks from his massive personal repertoire accompanied by accomplished covers of Norah Jones, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. His final note was a haunting reproduction of Bob Dylan's If Today Were Not An Endless Highway, which no doubt won him a theatre full of fans.

Still, from the moment the lights were dimmed post-interval it was clear who most that evening had come to see. Lior was last here for WOMADelaide a year or so ago after which he set out to tour relentlessly whilst releasing a live album and his second studio recording. The intensity of this practice has dramatically benefited his on stage presence - he was charming, charismatic, assured, witty, mesmerising, and he also played some music while he was up there.

Israeli born Lior has a vocal range beyond any artist I have ever heard live. His voice melted from note to note, reaching arcane peaks and sentimental lows, no doubt enhanced by the acoustics of the theatre. Familiar favourites Daniel and Autumn Flow reverberated throughout the room with the presence of a performer who is enjoying the best years of his career to date. Newer track Sonya was perhaps the pick of the set although to distinguish between each song was difficult as all were nurtured with equal passion, backed by the ethereal echo of his string quartet, which were worth the ticket price in their own right. When I'd entered the theatre I wasn't really much of a fan of Lior, yet standing in the foyer after the show I realised that I couldn't imagine a more complete performance than the one I had just seen.

Ryan Winter