My good friend Lee-Ann and I went to see a Bob Evans show last night at the The Tivoli. A lovely venue, The Tivoli is full of wide open spaces with an upstairs gallery and beautifully decorated in an art deco style. It was my first visit to The Tivoli and I loved it.
The crowd was mostly young 20-somethings. Very well-behaved, no drunkeness or violence, no smoking (of course, since it is now banned from public spaces). Instead there was a wonderfully positive vibe and lots of texting and photo-taking with mobile phones! So different to my experience of the Sydney gig scene nearly 20 years ago.
Lee and I took seats up in the gallery, below us punters sat on the floor waiting patiently through the support acts.
First up was Farrell Purkiss, who played a most beautiful guitar and music that made you want to move and tap your feet. Something about him reminded me of the late Michael Hutchence, I think he has the same smouldering appeal. A very talented songwriter/musician from South Africa.
Next was an act called Machine Translations, which was one man J. Walker. His voice reminds me of Bob Dylan, his music is interesting and different from anything I’ve heard. He was later joined on stage by members of a local band, The Boat People who added an interesting array of instrumentation.
At about 10.30pm Bob Evans came on. The floor below us filled up with hundreds of enthusiastic fans. A fantastic light display from the stage, terrific sound and Kevin Mitchell himself. A wonderful performer, very funny and friendly and outgoing. I was a bit concerned for him, he mentioned he was on anti-biotics, but he and the Bob Evans band put on a wonderful show. Most of the songs were from the Suburban Songbook album, there were a couple from the previous album Suburban Kid.
For encore, Kevin brought Farrell Purkiss back on stage and they did a fine cover of the Rolling Stones Wild Horses.
