Joanna Newsom at Hamer Hall

Joanna Newsom’s magical storytelling and fabulous musical talent completely enraptured the audience last night at Hamer Hall. Underneath the speckled lights and brilliant acoustics, we felt pretty spoilt to be seeing such a show.

The supporting act, Mick Turner (Australian musician and visual artist), is best known as the founding guitarist in the instrumental rock band Dirty Three and has released a number of solo albums. Having never sat through a set of instrumental rock before, my plus one and I were pretty intrigued. They seemed very comfortable on stage, performing almost as if we weren’t there. The emotive instrumental set seemed a well-chosen precursor to Newsom’s performance.

Newsom and her musical companions are all incredibly talented, each flitting between a number of different instruments on stage. I really enjoyed ‘Divers’, the title track from her most recent album. It was enthralling to watch, as her ethereal vocals soared over the rhythmic patter of two mbira players. Even though I was sitting in a room with hundreds of people, the show somehow felt very personal – her harp playing makes you feel like you’re floating on a sea of melodies, whilst she sings you bedtime stories.

Other standouts of the evening were ‘Peach Plum Pear’ and ‘Sapokanikan’. Watching her live, reminded me of a majestic maiden bringing her mythical world to life through music. She received a standing ovation and graced us with her lullaby-type song ‘Baby Birch’ as an encore. Stepping back out onto St Kilda Road was an abrupt end to such a dreamy performance. Next time she’s in town, be sure to snap up a ticket.

– Lisa
Lisa Martin is a lover of music, words and frolicking in the garden.

Joanna Newsom’s ‘Divers’ was released October 2015 via Drag City. She will be performing at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney on January 21st (as part of the Sydney Festival) and at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane on January 23rd.

Disclosure: The Plus Ones were invited guests of Chugg Entertainment.