Valentine's Day - yeah, but for most of the crowd at Northcote Social Club to see Canadian singer Kathleen Edwards, it was the last thing on our minds. We were all there to see Kathleen strut her stuff in her first concert in Australia. We were not disappointed…
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Openers,
Horse Stories, performed a 45-minute set, warming up the audience
with songs from, I assume, their latest CD Everyone's A Photographer.
< Horse Stories - live at Northcote Social Club 14/2/06 |
Kathleen Edwards accompanied by her husband, guitarist Colin Cripps, came on stage at around 10.45, launching directly into the subtle, beautifully written song, "Pink Emerson Radio" from her latest CD Back To Me, closely followed by the first track on that CD, "In State". Kathleen remarked that she was still suffering from jet lag having only arrived in the country a few days before, and was negating the effect by drinking coke.
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She introduced "One More Song The Radio Won't Like" with the wry observation that it is the song most played on the radio. Though lacking her band, with just Colin Cripps playing a variety of guitars, Kathleen's performance was anything but subdued. I was wondering before the show, how the familiar rock 'n roll songs would sound without a band, but with both Kathleen & Colin playing guitars, the sound was perfectly adequate for the material and Kathleen was in very fine voice. Though evident that she was taken aback by a full house, Kathleen was delighted by the friendly and enthusiastic reaction of the audience. At one point she apologised for her numerous expletives, stating that it was caused by nervousness. The audience didn't mind. Towards the end of the main show, Kathleen said she was intrigued by the rating on a sticker on one of Horse Stories CDs which was designated as having "moderate impact" A lively discussion ensued, where members of the audience speculated on how many uses of the word "fuck" constituted a high impact rating if a moderate impact rating equated to one expletive in the lyrics. |
 Kathleen Edwards - NSC - 14/02/06 |
As the show progressed, Kathleen became more relaxed and performed a range of songs from her two CD (Failer 2003 and Back to Me 2005) repertoire as well as several unreleased songs. Kathleen sang (a request from the audience) a cover of AC/DC's "Money Talks" which she described as being "corny". Another cover was of Gram Parson's "Juanita". This song was recorded - along with several other Parson's songs - for the 2004 tribute DVD "Return to Sin City", but was unused in the tribute. Her take on "Juanita" was marvellous with Colin Cripps providing harmony vocals as he did with most of her songs.
Canadian archetypes were explored in various songs, "Hockey Skates" for one which encouraged the Canadians in the audience to become exuberant.
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Kathleen Edwards' lyrics are in general cynical and worldly wise, with the exception of "Summerlong" a love song of sorts to her husband Colin Cripps. He provided excellent backup to Edwards, playing an astounding number of different guitars (someone said it was five), but remained in the background for the most part letting Kathleen do the talking. They both appreciated the Melbourne weather, coolish to us locals, but warm compared to their home country that has been experiencing sub zero temperatures. |
The show finished at about 12.30pm and lasted for close to two hours. It was very well received by all present and was constantly engaging. The current Australian tour is limited to four shows, including the Northcote show, but Kathleen promises to return next year at about the same time.
All up it was a very enjoyable evening's entertainment and Kathleen Edwards, who has been variously described as a sort of female Ryan Adams or soul sister to Lucinda Williams, proved herself to be a very individual and accomplished performer. Her songs may deal with bitter situations but they are quirky, well written and come with catchy tunes.
SONG LISTING (as near as can be remembered)
1. PINK EMERSON
RADIO
2. IN STATE
3. ONE MORE SONG THE RADIO WON'T LIKE
4. SUMMERLONG
5. HOCKEY SKATES
6. WESTBY
7. NEW SONG (UNRELEASED)
8. SONG ABOUT HOCKEY
9. JUANITA (GRAM PARSONS COVER)
10. SIX O'CLOCK NEWS
11. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR
12. OLD TIME SAKE
13. MONEY TALKS (AC/DC COVER)
14. BACK TO ME
ENCORE:
1. NATIONAL STEEL
2. ?
3. COPIED KEYS
Review and photos by Anne Sydenham 2006