Live Review: Ziggy Alberts, Garrett Kato

You know that feeling when you're just so goddamn inspired to get off your butt and radiate positive energy into the universe? Multiply that by about 1,000 and you'll get a tiny bit closer to the take-home feeling of Ziggy Alberts' live set. The man is all the beauty in the world we don't deserve, but he turns up anyway.

Canadian-born, Byron-based crooner Garrett Kato is as native as a humble vegemite sanga. His easy-going nature and laidback stage swagger slots right at home in The Gov's bustling space. The relationship between performer and audience is tested as he politely and firmly begs the audience to keep the chatter down. Given the chance, his music has the rare quality of transporting you to a person, a place, or a memory. His cover of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams is holy.

The lights transition between a calming blue wash to a more vulnerable level of house light, opening up the audience for examination by Byron Bay busker-turned-sensation Ziggy Alberts. His face-crinkling smile is infectious as he politely and humbly tips his sailor's cap and takes a seat centrestage. His unique style of playing is a phenomenon that's taken many a viral video by storm, but it's Alberts' radiating warmth that gives him that special touch. 

Spilling an anecdote about how he broke up with alcohol in Sweden last year, he preludes Land & Sea track Used To before cheersing his cup of green tea to the audience with a grin and a wink. His anecdotes paint a picture of every person in the room - just someone trying to find the best in every shitty situation. His flamboyant and animated recount of his girlfriend leaving him for her ex-boyfriend before Settle Down, as well as his mid-set plea to save the world before Better Off (The Captain Planet Song) gave us refreshing insight into the life of a kid who lives in a van.

No small feat was shushing the buzzy audience's chatters, but Alberts was successful in coaxing them into silence before crowd favourite Warm Coffee (The Market Song) rang out across the room. Alberts was sunshine personified, his electric and effervescent energy illuminated the space during Gone (The Pocahontas Song) before finishing off with Runaway. The crowd was practically begging him for an encore before reluctantly bidding him farewell.  

A new life was breathed into the 600-strong room at The Gov tonight. Refreshing, soothing, soul-warming and heart-bursting, Alberts was an absolute dream.