Photos By Lyn Harder:
I think as far as a venue goes, Rod Laver really is too big for solo artists although for James Blunt the arena does try to create a more intimate space by curtaining off the top tier. This still makes an artist work hard to keep a 10,000 strong audience feel included in the performance. However James made it seem effortless with a few songs in recognising all audience members from General Admin through to those in the stix, complimenting Australia as one of his strongest fan bases and this Melbourne gig being one of his biggest turnouts. I don't know what this says about Australians but from my observation of the fans I'd say that it's pretty mixed, with a reasonably large percentage going to the 40+. Yes Mr Blunt is someone you wouldn't take home to meet your mother because she'd most likely try and get a piece of his well spoken, four day furry fuzzed, spoken face all for herself. Regarding the male turnout begs the question of how many were dragged by their girlfriends. However due to the amount of shout outs during the show, it seems that Blunt has a reasonable independent male following as well. The Show opened with 'Give me some Love' from the new Album All The Lost Souls, this track set the president for a show that was never going to be fast paced with huge feats of physical stage dominance but about creating an atmosphere that encouraged the audience to think about the content of his songs hitting an intelligent chord and not just an emotional one. This was backed up by the opening video which was a preview to Al Gores " An Inconvenient Truth" and later enhanced by footage of war torn Kosovo during "No Bravery". There is something of the social activist in Blunt (even though to some he might seem like a commercial sellout) commenting during his dialogue with the audience, on societies celebrity obsession "with whether Britney Spears is wearing knickers or not", adding that 'his first album did things that he never thought would and possibly didn't want to'.I would have been very suprised if any fan in the audience didn't have both of Blunts albums and he kept everyone happy by playing a huge selection of songs from the first album as well as his new one. 'Goodbye My Lover' was the crowd singalong and was always going to be a personal favourite of mine, along with 'I Really Want You' and 'Shine On'. It was amusing to find out that 'Goodbye My Lover' is the No# 1 song played at funerals and 'Your Beautiful' No#1 at weddings, which is quite ironic if you think of it. I'm not too sure why but alot of his songs seemed to take on a slower tempo, particularly during 'I Really Want you' which is one song that I would have liked to have kepted up beat. His band were great however i'm not too sure how long they've been together, with Blunt as the star of the show his interaction with his band fell short of any personal connection and felt strictly professional. As for the stage design it felt like someone had ravaged a prop box and desided to use whatever they wanted whether it was apropriate or not, for example the Gong making one brief appearence at the end of 'So Long Jimmy' and disappearing. Then there was the Disco ball for '1973' and the net of lights that at some point during the show were rigged up and several songs later pulled down, never really adding or devaluing anything from the performance. However as I stated at the beginning, the show wasn't about theatrics but the music. I just wish whoever raided the magic box would just put all those gadgets back in it, they just weren't necessary. All in all I had a very satisfying evening, even though when I stood up half way through the very last song '1973' some old lady tapped me on the shoulder to sit down, to which I replied she should stand up, the cheek. James pushed all my buttons and I would gladly let him push some more, there really is just something about the way he sings, speaks and his furry face that just makes me ripple with that loving feeling.
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