Angus & Julia StoneEleven years into their musical career, Angus & Julia Stone still know how to woo a crowd, as the duo's sold out show at Thebarton Theatre proved.
They were a commanding presence on a stage that they shared with a huge eagle-like totem pole, a backing screen showing rising moons and falling snow, as well as four very accomplished backing musicians.
Not surprisingly, the show featured a significant amount of material off their new album, Snow, and their set started off with a group of songs from it, including Baudelaire, Cellar Door and Chateau. Their voices still complement each other perfectly, as Heart Beats Slow proved.
Julia introduced a few of the songs to us, advising that they were all about being in, or out, of love. She regaled us with stories from 'back in the day', of the time of their first recordings in their dad's living room. This included the background behind For You, a song written for a former flame who broke her heart (she assured us that she's okay now). These gentler, acoustic moments proved to be where her voice was at its finest.
Angus looked proud to show off his guitar made from cigar box on Nothing Else, one of the highlights off the new album. He clearly appeared to be having a great night, telling us, "We've played here a few times and every time it has been awesome... in Adelaide, you can't go wrong", before launching into a subdued rendition of Big Jet Plane.
Uptown Folks, a song from Angus' Dope Lemon side project, was warmly received and later the heavens (or rather some buckets high above the stage) opened up to drizzle some artificial snow upon the performers. The short encore included a mellow cover of Neil Young's Harvest Moon.
Everyone went home happy, heartstrings carefully tugged.
