Live Review: The Tallest Man On Earth & Buke & Gase

Although it is a sad fact of life that all good things must come to an end, Perth's International Arts Festival was at least making sure it would go out in style. The penultimate evening of the event played host to a sold out show, with Brooklyn's Buke and Gase the first of two acts to take up the reins. Having just released an adventurous new LP to many positive reviews, the duo were keen to show what all the fuss was about. Without any form of introduction the pair absorbed the crowd immediately, producing faithful renditions from their latest release, General Dome, with the likes of opener Houdini Crush, Cyclopean and Split Like A Lip..., as well as the title track of the album. Arone Dyer's vocal delivery was pitch-perfect and she could hardly suppress her smile throughout the performance, while her other half, Aron Sanchez, while ultimately expressionless throughout the set, provided layers of light and shade with some innovative guitar-playing.

Twenty minutes after the openers left the stage, a roar of cheer signalled that Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man On Earth, had made an appearance. He jump-danced his way across the stage and made a few bows to the audience before picking up his guitar and instantaneously making every single person in the crowd fall in love with him again, if not for the first time. Beginning with crowd favourite King Of Spain was a wise choice, prompting the entire audience to chorus along with him while setting spirits high. “I apologise if I fall over while I'm up here”, he remarked, “I lost nine hours of my life on the way to Australia and I've just gained three back since coming to Perth, so I'm still trying to adjust”. This apparent jetlag did nothing to cripple his performance, as he played through Love Is All, To Just Grow Away and 1904 seamlessly. Like The Wheel's sobriety had some fans doing all they could to hold back the tears, until Matsson counteracted with the much catchier Burden of Tomorrow. A two-song encore was obviously welcomed with open arms, before the man surprised us all with a third encore song, The Wild Hunt. This reviewer witnessed several outbursts of emotion in the form of crying upon making his way out of the festival garden – I think that speaks for itself, don't you?