Setlist

Where Are You Going? Soft Skin Meri (RB) So Rude (RB) The Half Light Perfect World (RB) When Love Comes Back To Haunt You Little Man (RB) Nobody Ever Could Ever Feel This Way Keep The Ball Rolling intermission Big Smoke (RB) She Set Fire To The House Heart For Heart Atomic Electric (RB) Poor Baby ???? (RB) Carrying A Torch For You (aborted) Wishing Machine Cosmic Wheels encore: In Deep

What a show. The line-up promised a night of wonderful music, but I didn't anticipate just how much fun it turned out to be.

It'd been more than 2 years since I last saw SC play live so the opening number, "Where Are You Going" was a treat indeed. Particularly stunning was the a capella ending, even more dazzling than the breathtaking recorded version.

From there it was Rebecca's turn ("that was Stephen, this is me"). Rebecca was very chatty all evening, brash and well humoured to the point of leaving SC a little lost for words at times. Her respect for his songwriting was obvious: after "When Love Comes Back to Haunt You", Rebecca made the point of saying "that is a masterpiece of a song" and after "She Set Fire To The House" she simply said "that song is an Australian classic".

Although Stephen didn't say much all evening, he was relaxed and clearly enjoying himself. At times he was perhaps a little too relaxed.

"Carrying A Torch For You" was a debacle: Stephen started but gave up halfway through the first verse. He explained that Shane had told him he was playing the chords the wrong way around and it was messing with his ability to play it the way he always had. He then started again but had to stop at the same point, laughing as his vocal trailed off. Take three was no better, with Stephen developing a bad case of the giggles while Rebecca urged him to just fast-forward to the chorus and go from there. Alas, it was too late, Stephen was beyond recovery and they skipped on to the next song.

Later, another song suffered a similar fate, stalling before the first verse. Shane called what key to play it in, Rebecca and Stephen just looked at him like he was mad, Shane persisted, they started the intro and then Stephen and Rebecca stopped in protest. There was much shaking of heads before the decision was made to give up and move on to the next song.

Occasional amateur-ish moments such as these were overwhelmed by the wonderful musicianship we have come to expect from these guys. On one of Rebecca's songs, she began telling the audience about Chris Whitley's performance last year at the Conti, a talent who had clearly impressed her. While she was doing this, Shane was jamming around on slide guitar, distracting her until she had to stop talking altogether and just let him do his thing, to get it out of his system. The barrage that followed tempted me to yell out "show off!" but I would have had to pick my jaw up off the ground first. Shane's guitarwork on "Cosmic Wheels" was exhilarating, especially the atmospheric squalls of the solo.

Ashley had a mic so he could sing harmony vocals but otherwise he kept to himself, not speaking at all. He just sat in the shadows playing guitar or mandolin and his only opportunity to show off was a nifty little solo on one of the upbeat Spiritual Bum songs.

Stephen repeatedly said he was trying to stick to the positive songs, so it was a delight to hear songs like "Heart for Heart" and "The Half Light". Live staples such as "Blue Hour" or "Melancholy Hour" weren't featured but ultimately they weren't missed, there was plenty of good music and laughter regardless. Let's hope that they do it again sometime soon.

Rebecca	Shane	Stephen	Rebecca
Ashley	Shane	Stephen, Rebecca & Shane	Shane
Stephen and Rebecca	Ashley, Stephen, Rebecca & Shane	Ashley	Rebecca & Shane
Ashley & Shane	Rebecca & Shane	Rebecca	Stephen
Rebecca & Shane	Stephen	Stephen	Stephen & Rebecca
Stephen	Stephen	Stephen, Rebecca & Shane	Stephen
Stephen & Rebecca	Stephen	Rebecca & Shane	Stephen & Rebecca