Live Review: Gretta Ray, Al Parkinson, Nancie Schipper

From the moment she steps onto the stage, it's apparent that Nancie Schipper is something extraordinary, as the opening lines to Your Eyes leave the crowd in awe.

At only 18 years old her voice is beyond her years. Sultry and smooth, she glides through a slow, intimate cover of Selena Gomez's Bad Liar, a version we think might just top the original. Schipper's stage presence is humble and authentic - "This song's about being socially awkward," she giggles leading into Run Away, which sounds like a delicious mix of Angie McMahon and Vera Blue. A slow-burning cover of Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball draws thunderous applause from the crowd and variants of "she's incredible" are whispered all around. 

Melbourne's Al Parkinson begins with a song completely a capella as the crowd falls silent. Not a whisper or a word is heard throughout the song as her spine-tingling vocals wash over the crowd with passion and purpose. The best thing about Parkinson is how humble and down to Earth she is. Introducing her three backing vocalists, who she calls "the babes", she speaks in casual slang and her banter is dorky and relatable. Each song is transported into another world, You Look Good In Blue painting the picture of a candlelit slow dance in the kitchen so vividly in our minds.

In a sea of red, singer-songwriter Gretta Ray emerges to cheers, grinning from ear to ear as When We're In Fitzroy pumps through the speakers. It's plain to see just from her stage presence that Ray's confidence has grown dramatically as she dances and twirls to Towers and A View Like This. Yet it wouldn't be Ray without her adorable awkwardness as she giggles and constantly shows how shocked she is to be playing to a sold-out Corner crowd.

"There's beauty in taking time and letting yourself grow," Ray says of the inspiration behind her writing, and we hear two brand new songs we're told are called 'Everything And More' and 'Dressing Gown'. Crowd favourite Time gets the crowd swaying and singing along as Ray soaks up the love beaming from the crowd — she dances, laughs and feels every word. "I think you guys know what this is;" finally Drive is screamed at the top of our lungs, with smiles stretching across faces. It will always be a favourite.

An encore is proposed and, to everyone's surprise, actually received. Ray and her band return with the quirky Unexpected Feeling, and despite a mid-verse mind-blank on the lyrics the crowd carries the song to the end of a ferocious and powerful opening night of the tour.