OlympiaBrisbane's Gallery Of Modern Art is relatively new to the live music scene and still seems to be working out how to comfortably accommodate live performances. While the gallery's cinema stage has recently hosted some impressive musical performances, the shows held in the gallery proper - staged in the corner of a hallway just inside the main entrance - have experienced mixed levels of success, largely due to the challenging environment created by the gallery space itself.
As a result, the musicians and the crowd are left under some warm, overhead lighting that welcomes an uncomfortable amount of eye contact between the two groups, as well as inviting crowd members to enjoy the pleasure of seeing and being seen.
There is some level of applause as Melbourne singer-songwriter Olympia (aka Olivia Bartley) takes to the stage with her three-piece band. However, what seems like almost half the audience then promptly continue their conversations, dressed in their work clothes and sipping wine.
Meanwhile, Bartley and her band open the set with tracks from her recent debut album, Self Talk, including Honey, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things and Different Cities. The sound isn't ideal inside the long, tall hallways of the gallery, although towering bassist Pat Bourke helps keep the less self-conscious crowd members' hips swaying.
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The socialites off to the side are shushed by someone Bartley jokes is probably her dad as she introduces Somewhere To Disappear, apparently inspired by a documentary maker who went around asking people where they hide. This is neither the first nor the last time Bartley offers an extensive introduction to a song and, while the crowd takes some time to warm to her off-beat style of humour, there's an obvious appreciation for her entertaining, although often disjointed, stories. Her guitar gets a workout during the song and is in need of an emergency tune, which throws a spanner in the setlist. "We weren't going to play this song tonight, but it feels more relevant than ever," Bartley says, before moving to the piano and performing Blue Light Disco on her own while her band take a break and see about the guitar.
What follows is a surprise highlight of the night, with Bartley crooning in her red jumpsuit behind the keys and hitting some beautiful high notes in the final chorus. She forgets the words to a verse, although an instrumental interlude goes down nicely in its place. Of course, Bartley remembers the lyrics right after she finishes and brushes it off with her characteristic nonchalance.
Both the audience and the performers finally seem comfortable with each other by this point of the night — it's a shame that it's taken this long. Nonetheless, Self Talk, Tourists, and Smoke Signals make for a crowd-pleasing string of closers. We're left looking forward to Olympia's the next Brisbane show, hopefully in a less-formal venue.
