Live Review: Martha Wainwright

When Canadian-American folk singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright was last in Sydney two years ago it was for her Edith Piaf tribute show. She still dropped in a couple of those songs, including the classic L'Accordéoniste, sung with passionate affection, but this time the focus was more personal. Recent album, Come Home To Mama, therefore featured heavily, with a good spread of older material.

Right from the start Wainwright looked completely at ease. She opened with a moving solo rendition of her late mother Kate McGarrigle's I Am A Diamond and immediately mesmorised the audience as her voice contorted its way around the song above a gentle acoustic strum. Her engaging manner was evident throughout as she entered into cheeky banter with her three-piece band (with her husband on bass) and simply laughed her way out of a false start and forgotten words. It was the songs that also let her persona spill through them that were the most effective, such as the confident romp of Can You Believe It and her hammed up cover of Stormy Weather. Other times her vocal took on an air of vulnerability, such as in Nick Cave's The Ship Song, where she exposed its lyrical beauty, or of raw emotion, particularly evident in Factory. So strong was Wainwright's character and her ability to inject it into her songs that the weakest moments were when her band took things up-tempo and mashed her out.

With a generous gesture mid-way through her set Wainwright made way for one song from Melbourne's Brighter Later, who had supported her on other Australian dates but had not been given the opportunity to do so at the Opera House. The simple acoustic melody and harmony of their Come And Go was exquisite in its tone. Though not as much as the set highlight, Wainwright's intensely powerful version of the last song her mother wrote, Proserpina, which was achingly beautiful in its delivery. This was a performance full of genuine personality that transferred to the songs better than most manage.