Live Review: James Morrison, Gin Wigmore

New Zealand artist Gin Wigmore has her Amy Winehouse routine down pat. The heavily tattooed 26-year-old songstress walks on stage with a glass of wine and begins with a potty-mouthed welcome to Melbourne. Joined by a five-piece backing band, which includes trumpet and keyboard, she plays soul-inspired music much like her UK idol. “This is a fragile song: you might like it, you might not. I don't care,” she says, introducing If Only in the most condescending of tones. Playing through tracks off each of her two albums, her tough-love act culminates with 2011's Black Sheep, a standout, bar room stomp that's true to its idiomatic title.

“There's a small percentage of you who probably came to see a trumpeter and are like, 'Fuck, wrong show!' Sorry,” UK singer/songwriter James Morrison jokes, immediately winning over the local audience. His album, The Awakening, released one year ago to the day, has belatedly made its way into the iTunes charts and recently spent time in the top position. He's genuinely humble and thanks the crowd for their support, though perhaps it's The X Factor audience, for which he appeared in front of nights earlier, who deserve his gratitude. Morrison looks like Coldplay's Chris Martin and at times sounds like him. He has the sense of humour to engage the capacity audience, but not enough showmanship to engross them. “If you want to sing along to this one, it's all yours,” he offers, before breaking into single I Won't Let You Go. It's Morrison's best song and clearly a fan favourite but, at five songs into his set, he has played his cards too early.

He dedicates In My Dream to his late father, who inspired much of the new album. Lyrically it's melancholic though the music upbeat, and for the only time during the night, adds an element of rawness to his over-polished sound. He performs Up, a duet featuring Jessie J on record, but tonight it's handled by a backing singer. And You Give Me Something, the first song he ever released. After a brief departure, he returns for an encore and closes with the optimistic Wonderful World from his 2006 debut.

For the most part of the evening, the audience seems subdued; an awkward Wednesday night combination of being captivated by his handful of hits and not knowing the songs that fill out the rest of his albums.