Live Review: Meg Mac, The Money War, Georgia Fair

It's not the first time that Georgia Fair have toured with Meg Mac, and tonight the easy listening folk duo are the first support act to kick off the show. Their wistful melodies and sentimental lyrics tell beautiful stories combined moving guitar rhythms.

The Money War follow soon after and have just released a brand new song called Hold On, which is possibly their best yet. The dreamy shared vocals from Dylan Ollivierre and Carmen Pepper contrast and complement each other beautifully — creating a warm and harmonious sound. Their refreshing indie-rock with a '70s psychedelic vibe hooks us in and gets the crowd moving.

Meg Mac emerges cloaked in a black ensemble under a wide-brimmed hat. She instantly commands our attention with her massive voice as she moves across the wide-open stage and literally sweeps the floor with her long satin jacket and pleated skirt. She's returned back to her home ground tonight for the first of two sold-out shows, but this time she's ready to play songs from her recently released debut album Low Blows. 

Mac takes a seat at her keyboard for LP opener Grace Gold and then continues into the first song she ever recorded, Known Better. With her sisters Hannah and Danielle on backing vocals, and a four-piece band by her side, Mac pushes the intensity of her performance to the limit. "I'm going to play a song that no one ever gets the title right, everyone calls it my October song," she says as she begins to sing Cages. The power in her soulful vocals reaches soaring heights with a flawless delivery. 

It's the first time Mac has played some of the songs from her new album for a Melbourne audience, and so she shares a few details from her time over in America where it all came together. Brooklyn Apartment (It's Louder Than The TV And The Radio) is a personal account of her observations while staying at in Airbnb surrounded by unignorable neighbours, she tells us. Mac also reveals that the album was recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York; "The whole time it felt like there was a ghost in the studio!" As she sings Shiny Bright we try and imagine what she was feeling at the time.

She moves over to her loop pedal for to impress us with her live performance of Saint Philomene. She records layers upon layers of live loops of French vocals and pats her chest to create sound effects that tie together beautifully. Her encore starts with a piano ballad called If You Want Me To Stay and ends on a high note with the uplifting Roll Up Your Sleeves.