Live Review: Sarah Blasko

Sarah Blasko has long been secure in her position as a significant Australian artist, and is very much a part of what is referred to when we speak of 'a national sound'. So, when backed by Orchestra Victoria at Melbourne's iconic Hamer Hall, this elegant songstress is a genuine, hair-raising spectacle. The woman can wow crowds at the humblest of venues, but with an entrancing light component and a tremendous force of strings and percussion, her rendition of most recent album, I Awake, is incredible.

I Awake is Blasko's fifth album, and, like its predecessor, was recorded at Atlantic Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Many of the orchestral components were also recorded abroad, notably in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, where Blasko recruited the country's New Symphony Orchestra. The title track features close to the middle of Blasko's set, as opposed to its firm opening position on the record, and is cushioned by gems like An Arrow, Fool and Cast The Net, making it a profoundly emotion expedition. Blasko also treats the audience to a love song (“of which there are few on this record,” she jokes) – an appropriate delivery given the show's Valentine's Day allocation.

Set in the dignified and recently renovated Arts Centre performance space, while the audience generally employ etiquette accordingly, there is a reminder that we probably aren't too far removed from the more conventional gig setting and demographic, with one of Blasko's exquisite odes followed by a bellowing of particularly ocker, blokey gratitude: “Oh, we love you Sarah, you're beeeautiful.” More appropriate appreciation for Blasko's set and graceful, ocean-like dancing is served up in an all-encompassing standing ovation and rapturous applause. This thanks intensifies at the conclusion of Blasko's encore; a piano solo of An Oyster, A Pearl, and full-band backed No Turning Back, taken from her previous album, As Day Follows Night.