Live Review: Max Savage

Performing in the world famous Spiegeltent for the 2019 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, local musician Max Savage and his five-piece backing band put on a brilliant show of mostly original material on a cold Sunday night. The show, titled Nobody Knows My Name, paid homage to the thrills and spills of nightlife in the City Of Churches.

Dressed in a smart three-piece suit – later in the set he admitted he bought it at a secondhand shop for a bargain price – Savage cut a charismatic figure. With a glass of red wine in hand, he started the show singing a soulful song backed by simple piano, immediately setting the scene for what was to come – a sublime mix of blues, jazz and soul.

Savage has been kicking around the traps for almost a decade and has clearly lived and breathed the material he’s singing about. While this was a show written for and debuted at the Cabaret Festival, the material could easily travel well. The stories were all relatable, including tales of music venues that close after having high-rise apartments pop up next door (or being reduced to just an acoustic duo on a Sunday night).

Savage shouldn’t get all the credit for this superb show. His backing band was simply amazing and had clearly spent a lot of time getting the material into a flawless state. The perfect match for Savage's vocal dominance was Brenton Foster on piano and keyboard, Kyrie Anderson on drums, Kiah Gossner on upright bass and both Tom Kneebone and Django Rowe on guitars.

After nearly an hour of originals, the group took the opportunity to play a song that has nothing to do with Adelaide or nighttime, but one that they all “really, really liked”. They then broke into a 15-minute version of Eric Clapton’s After Midnight, complete with iconic Adelaide pub references, band introductions and brilliant solos from each member.

While Savage is not an Adelaide icon, he should be. It wouldn’t be surprising if he won over quite a few new fans tonight.