Live Review: Busby Marou, Darren Middleton, Karl S Williams

The locals turned out in droves for a free entry Sunday session at Towradgi Beach Hotel.

Enter Karl S. Williams – he introduced his banjo, Bettie Mae, and his guitar, Ida Belle, and demonstrated the lovely relationship he has with said instruments before showing off on the piano too. The peak of the set was the hauntingly beautiful Is This Love?, sung with delicate intensity.

Darren Middleton has been out of the Powderfinger shadow long enough to have created a reputation as a skilled solo artist and he did not disappoint. Though his 2013 album Translations pulls a few industry strings with guests like Bernard Fanning and Paul Dempsey, with his own band Middleton takes the spotlight and looks right at home. He was technically superb, and the crowd seemed to boost when the opening notes of One Thing bounced off the walls – certainly a highlight.

Busby Marou are just too damn charming. “We’re billed as a duo but honestly we’re a band,” Tom Busby said when introducing the extra two on stage: Damon Joel on drums and Vincenzo Russo on bass. They hit their cover of Better Be Home Soon from the 2010 He Will Have His Way album early, so too the excellent beachy folk favourite Biding My Time.

Busby didn’t appear sympathetic to the plights of those who had work on Monday morning – “Every day is a Saturday when you’re a full time musician, and honestly we probably won’t be thinking about you at work tomorrow,” he teased with tongue in cheek. A seemingly endless supply of women flowed onto the stage to dance to the final track, their Like A Version for triple j from a few years ago, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. It was one of those rare intimate gigs where band and audience are just friends, as demonstrated by the chats over beers after the show.