Live Review: Olympia, Sarah Belkner, Georgia Reed

The sounds of British India warming up for their set in Capitol could be heard inside Amplifier Bar as fans gathered early on an unfortunately cold Friday night. They were there to catch Melbourne artist Olympia performing the first of two Perth shows as part of the national tour for her critically acclaimed debut album Self Talk.

Local singer-songwriter Georgia Reed and her dynamic five-piece band kicked things off with an energetic performance, Reed's alluring, smoky vocals bolstered by a tight performance from her band. One track featured a roaring guitar solo from Reed's bandmate that harmonised with Reed's vocals, getting a great reaction from the crowd before the set ended with latest single Waiting For You To Run.

Following on from Reed was Sydney songstress Sarah Belkner who gave a fantastic solo performance armed only with two keyboards and a drum machine set up in front of the drum riser on stage. Belkner managed to capture the attention of the audience quickly with her dreamy Kate Bush-style vocals and simple yet effective instrumentation.

Coming on just after 11pm in an eye-catching silver suit was Olympia accompanied by a bassist and a drummer as well as Belkner on keys to start off with Honey, playing it with all the energy and passion of the original and even added a quick solo at the end full of screaming slide guitar sounds.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things followed on with Olympia showing some fantastic falsetto work. She switched to a hollow-body guitar for Atlantis to deliver some bluesy, jazz-inspired playing with great vocals before Belkner returned to add some nice plodding Rhodes keys to Opening Hours and beautiful harmonies on Different Cities.

The band started into the opening chords of Smoke Signals as Olympia thanked the crowd and told them it was the last song of the night. The band tore through a great version of the song packed with energy, Olympia's rich falsetto smashing out the chorus of the song and finishing the set to one last round of applause from the audience.