Live Review: Josh Pyke, Patrick James, Olympia

While lining up in the outside queue, a woman in front jumps on the spot to keep warm, telling her daughter that she was right in saying they would need to bring a coat. Once inside the intimate venue we are finally sheltered from the winter winds. While the crowd shuffles around trying to find the best view, songstress Olympia fills the room with her Feist-like vocals.

Next up is Patrick James: a man with two first names. James and his band warm the crowd up with some hot indie folk. The place is now packed and we are all getting manhandled by people pushing past. This is the first of two sold-out Corner gigs. It's also the first show on the tour that sold out – Pyke has a lot of love waiting for him in Melbourne. 

Josh Pyke appears and the ladies go wild. He is adorable with his boyish side fringe, full beard and collared shirt buttoned to the top. Sweet looks aside, we have all come to hear this amazing lyricist's great words. Pyke's performance is flawless as he drifts between old and new songs, always bopping along with the beat and fuelling the crowd with good vibes. A true romantic, before Pyke plays Sew My Name, he gives us a heads-up that now would be the right time to propose to someone in the crowd. (Apparently it has happened before.)

Most of Pyke's songs are for romantics, but he does occasionally weave some cheeky lyrics in; the crowd blushes when he sings, “I'd make you come, come to your senses,” during new track Warm In Winter. Melbourne is clearly longing for some shorts weather, singing desperately along to The Summer. The aforementioned mother without a jacket is likely to be singing the loudest.

The encore features the popular Middle Of The Hill, a song about Pyke's childhood. We all loudly sing the outro: “I don't pay enough attention to the good things when I've got 'em.” Pyke is in jolly spirits, beaming onstage as he thanks us for allowing him to not have a “proper” job for the last ten years. He loves his fans and his fans love him back. He even hangs out at the merch stand after the gig to sign stubby holders like any top bloke should.