Live Review: Paul Dempsey, Olympia

Paul Dempsey

There's a lot to like about Melbourne's Olympia, aka Olivia Barkley. Barkley performed as a foil to Dempsey, focusing on electric guitar-based songs, complete with sparse layered vocals and sampling. She pulled out the keys every now and again, playing a set where each song flowed easily into the next. Clad in a turquoise jumpsuit, Barkley failed to really engage with the audience, letting her moody distorted songs speak for themselves.

Paul Dempsey is in a word, a charmer. A charmer with Hugh Grant-style floppy hair. He's one of Australia's most lauded singer-songwriters, having been a fixture in the Australian musical landscape since the late-'90s. The tour was in support of his latest effort Shotgun Karaoke: a homage to some of his favourite bands, and, also from the cover, Hunter S. Thompson. He took the opportunity to “play the songs I wished I wrote”. He played them on an acoustic guitar, under a single spotlight, and he played them exactly as they were written. It felt like watching a fanboy saying thank you to his influences that ranged from American alt-rockers Hüsker Dü to homegrown talent You Am I.

Dempsey is a seasoned performer who knows exactly how to woo a crowd. Although he would not be convinced to take his shirt off, he did constantly compliment the audience, we were “beautiful with beautiful souls” and great singers. The audience weren't there for the covers record; they were there to catch sight of Dempsey.

He opened the set with Hüsker Dü's Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely, then followed on with stripped back versions of his own songs starting with Fast Friends, and those of his heroes. He played a new song and Impossible by Something For Kate, and throughout showed off his vocal range: polished but at times just a little bit gritty. At quieter moments you could hear the crowd softly singing along. At the end of the set he was joined on stage by Olympia who provided back-up vocals for INXS's Never Tear Us Apart and then Bowie's Space Oddity.

The encore was You Am I's Berlin Chair, followed by his own Bats and Theme From Nice Guy. Three singalong tunes that had the crowd captivated. It seems like Dempsey knows that he has made a mark on Australian indie music, and is now content to play songs that made a mark on him.