The Maram crowd appeared very disengaged from opening act, shoegaze extraordinaire Chris Bolton (from Melbourne band Seagul’), who with his acoustic guitar played a support set that was full of potential, but resulted in being background music while the audience talked amongst themselves.
“No offense,” Lawrence Greenwood aka Whitley said as he came on stage, “but Canberra isn’t exactly the highlight of my life.” Some of the audience feigned offence as he quickly added “but Canberra is by no means the worst place in the world, have you guys ever been to (notorious Melbourne suburb) Frankston?”
The Melbourne performer had an undeniable story telling capacity to his music, and in hand a way of making the crowd feel they are witnessing a writer or artist at work. Themes of life, death, bleeding hearts and depression were prominent in his tunes and he uses beautiful allegory within well-penned lyrics.
Go Forth Find Mammoth is the latest offering from the singer, who took to the stage for an acoustic set. As he played gems like the anthemic Poison in our Pockets and the well-known Bright White Lights the room collectively nodded their heads up and down in definite sign of approval.
Those familiar with his past work showed great appreciation for glimpses of previous album Submarine, with tunes such as the spine-tingling More Than Life.
Admittedly there was something lost in the absence of the brilliant instrumentation on his recorded work – however the personal experience of this acoustic set undeniably showcased his talent, also boosted by the fantastic sound team run by The Maram who received compliments during the show from the man himself.
Between songs, the set went from being a glimpse at stand-up comedy, Whitley engaging the audience with strange black humour, to a glimpse at frustration – the singer not holding back on his thoughts toward hecklers, and losing his cool on more than one occasion – which was undeniably putting punters offside – one in particular who smashed a glass on the ground and was then escorted out – leaving a bitter taste in fans mouths.
Finishing off with Lost In Time, and thanking the room for the ‘weirdest show yet,’ he left the stage playing no encore. While this tour is the last chance in the near future for punters to catch Whitley solo, he hinted to the audience that he will be back with a whole different musical project. While it’s fantastic news that this talented songwriter will be bringing new tunes to the table in some other capacity, you can’t help but think that maybe the break will do him some good.
Photos by Chris Whitfield.
