Live Review: Paul Dempsey, Mitch McDonald - Fly By Night

With the fate of the Fly By Night uncertain, Something For Kate frontman Paul Dempsey jumped at the chance to do a last minute solo performance at the venue, fearing it may be his last chance to perform at one of his favourite venues in WA.

Taking to the stage as the sole support act was Love Junkies frontman Mitch McDonald, who played a solo set of originals and a few Love Junkies tracks, although in a more subdued manner. “I don't do this too often,” the singer admitted. “It's scary because there's no one here to share the nerves.” Nevertheless McDonald did a great job, channelling Jeff Buckley with his great falsetto voice and intricate playing on his battered electric guitar. He capped off the set with a frenetic version of Love Bug that drew a huge round of applause from the now packed venue.

After a short half-hour break, the sounds of Bob Dylan's Ballad Of A Thin Man came over the PA speakers as Paul Dempsey strolled on stage to cheers from the audience. He compared the intimate feel of the venue to playing in his own living room and asked the audience to sign the petition before plugging in his acoustic and launching into great versions of Private Rain and Ramona Was A Waitress. From there, Dempsey delivered a spectacular 18-song set that included solo tracks Bats and Out Of The Airlock alongside Something For Kate favourites Just A Passenger and more. At one point, for Fast Friends, he brought up a sign language artist who translated the lyrics into an exciting visual alongside Dempsey's heartfelt performance. His cover of INXS's Never Tear Us Apart sent shivers down the audience's spines and had everyone singing along for the big chorus at the end, getting one of the biggest responses of the night.

Having run out of songs on the setlist, Dempsey, being the nice guy he is, started taking requests from the audience, which included Theme From Nice Guy, which ended the set before a final five-song encore that featured Deep Sea Divers, Archers Of Loaf's Web In Front and Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Happy.

After such an energetic performance, he finished with a gentle, vaudeville-style version of Safety In Numbers before thanking the audience, encouraging them once again to sign the petition and telling them “I'll see you next time. Hopefully still here.”