Live Review: Ben Howard, Willy Mason

Bereft of bells and whistles, American Willy Mason holds court on his lonesome, a beard and flanney giving him the appearance of a farm boy with a guitar in the big smoke for the weekend. His easy banter and unforced folk delivery that has more than a helping of country influence charms an early crowd, the chug of Fear No Pain helped along by a kick drum while the ghost of Johnny Cash rides saddle with him on I Got Gold.

Fresh from winning two Brit Awards, Ben Howard quietly opens his set with Everything as a sold-out crowd threatens to drown out the Englishman's interesting acoustic guitar style that switches from delicate finger-picking to percussive rhythm. Howard appears timid, at first slightly shocked by a largely ocker crowd who take liberties with the name of their old mate by yelling out, “Yeah Benny boy!” at any given chance; it would be no surprise if the majority were expecting a Newcastle Knights player as tonight's support. With three bandmates who impressively swap between keys, guitar, bass and percussion, Howard uses his soulful vocal to deliver the majority of his 2011 debut album Every Kingdom for the first time in Brisbane; the dark vibe of Black Flies adds an interesting dynamic to the rootsy charm of Diamond and the good-time, surf-safari rollick Old Pine. He becomes distracted during Only Love – it must be a confusing yet pleasing moment when an artist needs to leave space in a song for the audience to take lead – and it's beautiful to see Howard come to that realisation on stage as the Hi-Fi sings: “Show me love, love, love” in unison.

Taking a slight detour, Howard offers the decidedly more sombre Oats In The Water from last year's Burgh Island EP as he switches to electric guitar; up to this point he could be described as the love child of Damien Rice and Xavier Rudd, though as an atmospheric build of keys and wailing riffs tumble into a post-rock jam, perhaps Mogwai also had a part to play in his musical upbringing. The moody Esmerelda too makes it impossible for the crowd to insert themselves in his space for a change, though the overwhelming positivity of Keep Your Head Up predictably inspires yet another word-for-word singalong. Extending The Fear with a percussion heavy outro, Howard and his band stifle grins of pure joy as they farewell a thrilled room, and again as they encore with a new track The Baron. You can bet Ben Howard's next visit to Australia will be in much bigger venues.