Live Review: Sarah Blasko, Luluc

“Oh, look above you now/There’s a heavy cloud/Hanging over us.” The lyrics to Explain were an apt description of the weather on a rainy night overlooking Sydney Harbour, but spirits were high for a Valentine’s eve show as a crowd of young and old filed past screeching parrots and a restless young elephant to fill the amphitheatre with picnic blankets. Even without front row seats, the serenity of watching the ferries glide by was enough to take in.

The night began with Luluc, a duo who divide their time between Melbourne and New York. Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett created very gentle, effortless acoustic folk brightened by their perfect harmonies and awkward banter.

Sarah Blasko kicked off her set gently too with her inimitable husky voice on Down On Love, before launching into the sexy double bass-driven Bird On A Wire. A jaunty march rendition of Hold On My Heart followed, and a six-piece band including two violinists wove all these styles together expertly, a marker of how uniquely diverse an artist she has become over the last 15 years.

Over And Over, from 2010’s As Day Follows Night suited the mood perfectly with jungle drums and marimba that surely had the nearby spider monkeys swinging, before Blasko delivered a haunting rendition of All I Want using a double mic set-up – one of which rendered her voice part-Blasko, part-theremin – to spine-tingling effect. Explain, from her rich and frequently dark 2006 record What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have continued the feeling, beginning softly and descending into a warm, lush crescendo of organ and pounding drums.

Amidst all this Blasko offered chirpy, self-aware conversation, acknowledging the crowd’s applause with surprise as though she had no idea her songs were so loved, welcoming “a possum in our midst” – apparently not a caged zoo resident – and pulling her delightful brand of dance moves that fall somewhere between interpretive and running man.

Her version of Flame Trees was a perfect encore that had everyone singing, and her slower, thoughtful rendition heightened the emotion of the Cold Chisel classic. Not Yet rounded out the set leaving everyone wanting more, and you had to feel that the restless baby elephant next door had danced it out by the end of the night.