Live Review: Ben Watt, Jack Reilly

Sydney-based singer-songwriter Jack R Reilly played an engaging set with his laidback persona totally in tune with his music.

His guitar rippled through his songs and blended perfectly with his gentle vocals. Powerful in the simplicity of his delivery, even stepping away from the mic on occasion, it was an assured performance.

He may always be best known as one half of the successful UK indie/electro-pop outfit Everything But The Girl (and as a DJ and author) but Ben Watt’s thing these days is playing solo. This show focused on his recent album Hendra (the first in his own name for more than 30 years) and captured much of the intense imagery of the recording as Watt played a mix of acoustic and electric guitar and keyboard.

His sincerity is evident in his music and lyrics and magnified in the live setting.

His guitar on the opening song, the album title track, was particularly gorgeous and lush as the gentle reverb opened out. Watt maintained an open and relaxed manner throughout the set, explaining the background of many of his songs. With most of them being of a personal nature, playing unaccompanied highlighted the intimacy of his songwriting, and the venue also perfectly reflected that. None more so than the sublime Bricks And Wood, a track that never made it onto an album, a song which built up then knocked you sideways. It deserves to get a release one day.

Despite the biggest cheer of the night being the wave of recognition at the start of Everything But The Girl’s The Night I Heard Caruso Sing, and Watt closing with another of the duo’s oldies 25th December, his 90-minute set was more than enough to show Watt has a whole other career ahead of him. His sincerity is evident in his music and lyrics and magnified in the live setting.