Live Review: Clare Bowditch,

There were a lot of first-timers at the Factory for this year’s version of Clare Bowditch’s annual Winter Secrets tour.

And somehow even the first-timers knew to arrive early. Bowditch’s carefully-curated line-up this year introduced Sydney audiences to delightfully eccentric duo The Twoks, comprising drummer Mark Leahy and violinist and vocalist Xani Kolac. With Leahy laying solid percussive foundations, Kovac wove hypnotising indie pop melodies with her voice and her violin, sometimes plucking bass notes, sometimes looping riffs and at other times whipping off into a frenetic series of notes while dancing around the stage.

The contrast couldn’t have been greater between The Twoks and Australia’s First Lady of Rock, Adalita. Where The Twoks were all bouncing energy, Adalita was a model of restraint, slowly building songs from the ground up, just her voice and her electric guitar, bleeding emotional intensity and honesty.

A musical hero of Bowditch’s, Adalita returned several times during the main set to supply a bit of rock muscle. While the two ladies have very differing styles, their voices in harmony brought a deep resonance to the songs they sang together. During new Adalita song Dazzling, the chattering stopped and the crowd watched in rapt silence.

The joy of Winter Secrets is never just discovering a new favourite in Bowditch’s hand-picked supports, though. It’s also the living-room charm of Bowditch’s banter and the interactivity that this unique artist demands of her audience. First song of Bowditch’s set and we were already getting singing lessons.

There was also the Bad Bitch Choir, 16 singing friends who Bowditch invited onstage to perform a rendition of her song I Thought You Were God, a slightly demented cover of Pump Up The Jam complete with lyrics cards, and of course the regular mix of old songs and new, from Offspring “hit” You Make Me Happy to the first album oddity, Human Being. As Bowditch herself said, every Winter Secrets show is different and is a brilliant example of the spontaneity and adventure possible at a live show.