Courtney BarnettTonight marks the last stop on Courtney Barnett’s Australian/NZ tour. She arrives on stage, illuminated under a red spotlight. The crowd cheers. Her backing band - usual suspects bassist Bones Sloane and drummer Dave Mudie joined by new member Katie Harkin on guitar/keys/BVs - eventually materialise, each under their own red spotlight. Barnett's vocals are next-level incredible, with trademark enviable husky timbre and perfect diction to accentuate lyrical phrases that double as life advice, such as, "You know it’s ok to have a bad day". Staging is kept pretty simple, with a few strands of fairy lights wound around equipment and large round lights - with markings that evoke either peace signs or Mercedes symbols - on tall stands.
As far as we're concerned, Barnett had it from the get-go and those unexpected turns of lyrical phrase during her ode to anxiety Avant Gardener immediately remind us of this fact: "The yard is full of hard rubbish, it’s a mess/And I guess the neighbours must think we run a meth lab.” Barnett's backing band play symbiotically, constant touring amounting to countless deposits in muscle-memory banks. The way Small Poppies almost spirals out of control with Barnett’s demented-banshee delivery ("An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eeeeeeeeeeye!") just never gets old, especially in this live incarnation. And we'll never tire of using, "But I’m sure it’s a bore being you,” as helpful self-talk while dealing with fuckwits.
General admission is all ages this evening and it's encouraging to see young girls up on adults' shoulders, wide-eyed and mesmerised, watching Barnett absolutely owning it up there - you can't be what you can't see, right? A couple of tween girls are even witnessed singing along with, "Men are scared that women will laugh at them", and we hope for a better, more inclusive future for them.
Did Barry Morgan come up with the keys arrangement for An Illustration Of Loneliness (Sleepless In New York), though? It's kinda cabaret, which we would never usually associate with this outfit.
During a Barnett-instigated mid-set question time, we learn she ate ramen, somewhere on Elizabeth Street, for breakfast and feels a bit hot and sweaty up there on stage at this point. Depreston, which Barnett introduces as her song about “house hunting in Coburg”, garners an enthusiastic crowd singalong. And again with those genius creative rhymes ("Depreston... arrestin’")!
A cover of Houses by Elyse Weinberg, which Barnett and co recorded at Spotify Studios in NYC a few weeks back, is a surprising inclusion that we'd probably switch out for another of her originals. Elevator Operator is all that; jaunty, catchy melodies underscoring that compelling narrative with numerous local references and fleshed-out character descriptions that evoke crystal-clear visuals.
“Was anyone at my first Melbourne gig at the Empress?” Barnett asks. A handful of punters holler and Barnett reacts, “Oh?” in a way that's hard to read before launching into one of her earlier numbers, Lance Jr.
Not sure whether it's because we're seated up in the stands, Sloane's side, but his playing and BVs are spectacular throughout (especially during Kim's Caravan) and he never falters, not even for a millisecond. Barnett's delivery of this same song is harrowing, the repeated, "So take what you want from me", lines despairing yet despondent and echoed by her furious guitar onslaught. One of Barnett’s strings gets stuck and she tells us that the first time she ever tried to change a string on an electric guitar, when she was about 12, it somehow got stuck in her eye - surely there's a song in that!? And it has to be said that Barnett is an absolute beast on guitar, her effortless style making complex riffs look a cinch.
History Eraser is our main-set closer, but Barnett soon returns to the stage solo, almost as if fearful we won't still be there if she waits a second longer. She performs Everything Is Free, a Gillian Welsh cover, solo and we're spellbound. Barnett proves a powerful presence up there all alone on a massive stage and we foresee a solo theatre tour in her future. Her band return to the stage and they close with what has become an ironic song given Barnett's runaway international success: Pedestrian At Best. Disappointed? Not a chance.
