Live Review: The Teskey Brothers, Caiti Baker

A night of blues and soul-infused music was the perfect tonic for a cold and wet week. The second night of two full concerts in Sydney show how far this genre is progressing in Australia.

Darwinian Caiti Baker has been working hard traversing the country since last year's exceptional breakout album, Zinc. In front of an eclectic and age-diverse crowd, she surely won swathes of new fans with a set that dripped with passion and energy. Starting with Different, Baker's unique dancing encourages the swelling crowd to their own moves. Baker's version of Irma Thomas' Ruler Of My Heart honours the soul-queen of New Orleans divinely. A boisterous individual in the crowd inspires some smart comebacks from the stage before Baker, supported by Paul and John Bartlett, finished with the upbeat Make Your Own Mistakes. A supremely polished performance from an artist on the up and up.

Despite being together as a band for over ten years, The Teskey Brothers are still being discovered outside of their hometown of Melbourne. A sold-out OAF had certainly heard of the band's talents, squeezing up close to get a sight of the seven-piece band as they did the same on the tight stage.

They started with a new one; Man Of The Universe hinting at a diversion from the classic blues-stylings of their debut album. There's more experimentation with structure, harmonies and lyricism. The new tracks were broken up by favourites from their album. Crying Shame and Shiny Moon evoked crowd participation.

Josh Teskey's charisma drove the between-song banter. The lead singer and guitarist introduced the many songwriters in the band and his brother, Sam, whose guitar skills were revealed in exceptional solos. Held down strongly by a rhythm section that clicked seamlessly, and the addition of a trumpet and trombone, the night showed how the group are meant to be seen; with full fan-fare and control, exemplified by a pinpoint live fade-out from I Get Up.

Josh teased that the band like to dabble in unique cover songs before the group performed a version of Black Sabbath's War Pigs that had to be heard to be believed. The '70s heavy rock hit — transformed into a bluesy track with horn-punctuated riffs — was an inspired addition to the set.

With the heartbreaking Forever You And Me and the brand new Right For Me in the encore, the group brought dancing, tears and rapture from an audience excited to experience a resurgent wave of blues and soul from the Australian music scene.