Image: Jeff Buckley
Haven't been to a music venue for ages - what was I thinking? Had the great fortune to be gifted tickets to the Vanguard in Newtown, to see a Jeff Buckley Tribute show (and yes, the word "tribute" filled me with misgivings). Nice, intimate venue, great food and service, and wonderful sightline to the stage. Sound desk earns their money, too, with a good balance between vocals and guitar - not always the case.
PJ Wolf started the line up: with an amazing voice and heartfelt performance, I was blown away and sure that everything had to be downhill from here. But, apart from two performers who I thought were "just good" the rest were outstanding and I wondered, not for the first time, how much talent there really is out there that we don't hear about (forget "Idol"). The Bill said that this was a performance by Sydney's top singer songwriters - and I have no doubt that it was.
Each artist had a little story about why they were singing this particular JB -and I didn't know there were so many bootleg recordings!- which was a nice, personal touch, paying tribute to the legacy and huge influence of this beautiful, young man. The sheer vocal range -from operatic high notes to deep and throaty -served to renew my interest in JB as a huge talent and sad loss to this world. Needless to say, he's on high rotation (again) on the ipod at the studio.
The upshot was: art feeds on art and I need to get out there more! I am now on the Vanguard's mailing list - I'd hate to miss something that good again.
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