SANDWICHES
FRIDAY 20 JULY
Words and Photo's by Charlette Hannah
My first impressions of the Liam Finn concert at Sandwiches went like this: Beard. "Where are all the musicians?" This was soon followed by "wow". I could leave it at "wow" but you probably want to know a little more.
The beard thing is pretty obvious, no further explanation needed there. However, the second can be explained. Sandwiches was packed. I was there in plenty of time, but not bold enough initially to bully my way through the crowd. So those of us 'behind the pillars' had no idea what was actually happening on stage. We heard guitar, then bass, then drums. Slowly, we learnt that this was being played only by Liam Finn.
The guy is a madman and a genius, really. Accompanied by a pile of pedals including a marvellous looping machine, and a backup singer, EJ, Liam really was a one man band.
I wasn't too impressed with his first thump on the drums, it was pretty loose, but you've got to give the guy credit for being bold enough to play the guitar, put it down, and jump on the drums to play with himself. The drumming got better as the night went on, and as I pushed my way to the front, I could see what a crazy drummer he was.
Liam had me on his second song. I'm not too familiar with his songs, but it captured me right away with it's lovely melody. Liam has a gorgeously listenable voice, and is a very proficient musician.
It doesn't even seem right to say it was a solo gig, as there was so much sound and dynamics. Liam went from a song with looped guitar riffs and drums and pulled it right back to a beautiful lullaby. With backup singer EJ providing delicious harmonies and someone to bounce off, Liam was on fire on Friday night.
It's the first time I've seen Liam play, and I have to admit I was never a huge fan of Betchadupa, but I definitely hope to see more of his solo work!
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