Live Review: Megan Washington. Montaigne, Greg Chiapello

The Metro was bustling for Megan Washington’s Sydney leg of her national tour in support of her second album There There.

Support acts Greg Chiapello and Montaigne did a great job of keeping the crowd entertained with their unique quirky pop hooks and raw, emphatic melodies, respectively. In particular Montaigne’s closing track I Am Not An End blew the audience away.

Shortly after Montaigne’s set Megan Washington strode onto the tinsel filled stage accompanied by a backing band that had the fashion stylings of Duran Duran. It felt like prom night in Pretty in Pink.

Washington opened with Holy Moses and proceeded to churn through a collection of songs from both There There and her past releases. While her vocals were faultless, the first half of her show did seem quite mechanical, roiling out track after track in an almost static manner. It wasn’t until the second half that Washington finally seemed to relax and just let go, allowing for some of the highlights of the night, like her performances with both support acts, an ‘80s tribute to Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now with Montaigne and her old school rock’n’roll duet of Chiapello’s track Hot Coffee. Or her emotional cover of Kanye West’s Runaway in her encore which was just the best ‘Sorry Kanye, but Washington does it better’ moment.

The strongest songs were those performed largely solo by Washington. She tends to shine when unaided by a backing band (especially one whose instruments were overpowering throughout the set in quite a distracting way.) Begin Again was the first song of the night that truly showcased Washington’s vocal talent without it being drowned out by bass, and Underground turned into a touching crowd singalong. Those were the moments that made the show, when Washington, with no bells or whistles, just sang.