Live Review: The Whitlams, Voix D'or

The brains trust of Voix D’Or are Leena Thavisin and Shane Reilly, whose set tonight takes a little time to find its groove. Once they settle in, though, their countrified musings are impressive and have the growing crowd nodding heads.

Thavisin’s voice fits somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Brooke Fraser, and the moments when she challenges herself are most rewarding. Reilly’s guitar playing is equally up to the task, but it’s when he sits down behind his lap steel that he comes into his own. Thavisin and Reilly share a strange chemistry as they seem to come from different walks of life, but the results are just right.

It’s been more than 20 years since The Whitlams first cut their teeth in Sydney’s suburban pubs and, while the line-up is markedly different these days, there is still plenty of youthful exuberance on show tonight. Tim Freedman takes his stool behind the stage right keyboard and pours himself the first of many glasses of white wine. Freedman takes his jacket off almost immediately, plays Peter Brown then Tonight and it’s quickly clear that he and his band will be taking their audience on a stroll down memory lane.

In songs such as Fondness Makes The Heart Grow Absent, Fall For You and Blow Up The Pokies, Freedman takes liberties with his vocal delivery, which is refreshing and fun. Nobody is here to listen to a carbon copy of a Whitlams CD, so the fact that they’re willing to improvise is rewarding for all. Friends and lovers watch, listen and sing along to I Will Not Go Quietly and a ramshackle, none-too-captivating version of No Aphrodisiac. There’s a jovial atmosphere in the air that not even a handful of screaming banshees on a girl’s night out can disrupt.

You Sound Like Louis Burdett, Charlie No 1 and Charlie No 3 – no Buy Now Pay Later (Charlie No 2) tonight – and set highlight I Make Hamburgers all go down a treat, while the short but sweet encore of There’s No-One and Royal In The Afternoon ensure everyone leaves with a smile. It’s a radiant performance.