Live Review: Foy Vance, Kyle Lionhart

There's a monstrous queue snaking right around the corner past the stage door, which is impressive for a Monday night old-farts gig; it's kind of a Port Fairy demographic.

"Thank you for clapping," Kyle Lionhart says. Lionhart then introduces a song called Compromise, which he explains is actually about not compromising. He wears a battered brown hat and denim shirt to offset scruffy facial hair and really looks the part. A bit a tanned, surfie version of Matt Corby. Lionhart jests that all proceeds from sales of his EP go towards his children not dying. There's a melancholy tinge to his vibrato. "Is there anyone here who's actually heard of me, ever?" he inquires. Ladies giggle in the front rows as crushes are established.

We spy Foy Vance's trademark Salvador Dali-esque 'tache emblazoned across T-shirts at the merch before he graces the stage. Vance takes his position, perched on a piano stool - tan flat cap angled jauntily to slant down over his right eye - and thunders into Noam Chomsky Is A Soft Revolution. He'd make a terrific extra if they rebooted The Sullivans, without requiring any assistance from the costume department. Vance's vocal is as powerful as Farnsey with a touch of gravelly Barnsey. "How the fuck are ya, Melbourne?" doesn't even sound sweary with Vance's Irish lilt.

Vance introduces a song about his hometown, Bangor Town, joking that the song's original title was 'Shithole'. A few move their hips around to Casanova, for which Vance straps on a guitar. He's accompanied by percussionist/vocalist Paul Hammy Hamilton. During one song Hamilton stands up to tap the side of a mic'd-up bass drum, which is elevated and positioned on its side, with a ringed finger and the resulting percussion is sharp as a whip. After a few punters shout out their requests, Vance takes a sip from his clear beverage and retorts (with a cheeky glint in his eye), "You'll get what you're given!" He then plays us a song that didn't make the cut for his last album The Wild Swan and we immediately wonder, 'Why the hell not?' Never Tear Us Apart by INXS is a surprising inclusion and we bask in the beauty of Hutchence's lyrics afresh before Vance segues smoothly into his own Feel For Me.

After returning to his piano station, Vance conjures some audience-supplied "ooh-ooh-ooh" BVs and expertly conducts us during Shed A Little Light. "Thanks for coming out in such numbers," Vance commends before remarking Justin Bieber has a face that you could never get tired of slapping, even if your hand was red raw. Many take their phones out to record 'their song', Guiding Light. He tells us they're not gonna bother leaving the stage, but will give us an encore anyway. Playing his guitar with a violin bow during The Wild Swans On The Lake, Vance summonses our singing voices once more, to harmonise with his own, before wandering off stage singing all the way.

Music for the whole family (except for that song in which Vance sings the word "pussy" and made the crowd whoop).