Dean Lewis, Robinson & Jack Gray @ The Gov, Adelaide 7/12/2018
Another night another wonderful gig at The Gov. I got to the gig early as I really want to see the supports prior to Dean Lewis and was not disappointed. The proceedings started with Jack Gray and his band and from the onset, he had a very receptive crowd. Jack has a three-piece band with him on guitar and vocals and two friends on keyboards and drums. Even though they’re only three people they have a full sound I would say that Jack sounds a little bit like Ball Park music with falsetto vocals. Jack and his band are from Mackay North Queensland and he told us that it was really cool to write and perform his songs with his friends in his bedroom and it was equally cool to play them for us tonight. I found his songs very catchy and Jack a very accomplished guitarist. I had listened to his songs on Spotify but found that in the live environment they sounded much better. With a few more recorded songs under his belt, I would love to see him perform in Adelaide again
Next up was Robinson a singer-songwriter from New Zealand and like Jack Gray she only had two other members of the band (a keyboard player and drummer). Robinson has a really wonderful sound and she has some very appealing songs and like Jack before she had an excellent crowd response. Robinson sounds a little like her label mates Broods as well as Dua Lipa and Banks, and she is very confident on stage and her dance moves also got a huge cheer from the audience. Robinson played all her recorded output. She started with Crave You and followed up with her first hit Don’t You Forget About Me (neither were covers!) Mid-set she did do an excellent cover of Bruce Springsteen’s I’m On Fire which was just her on keyboards with her best vocal performance of the set. Her last song was the one myself and the crowd were waiting for. The song Nothing To Regret has over 55 million listens on Spotify and it sounded excellent with most of the crowd singing. I can see her on large festival stages in the future
Lastly, Dean Lewis hits the stage to a huge cheer. His rise in Australia has been meteoric, to say the least. I saw Dean as the second support to Lisa Mitchell at the Rocket Bar and two short years later he is headlining the first of two sold-out gigs at The Gov. He started with Lose My Mind and from the onset, the crowd were singing every line and the phones were out in full force. In fact, any recorded song that Dean sang was joined by most of the crowd who knew every word. Dean sings with passion and he has heartfelt lyrics which he actually sang so passionately that he was concerned that he would have no voice left for the Sydney show tomorrow.
A couple of the new songs really stood out as well. The first was Half A Man which was just him singing with keyboards alone. Another was the energetic Hold Of Me which will open his album when it is released. Dean stated that he really looks forward to releasing the new album so that everyone can sing along to every one of his songs. I suspect the album tour date in Adelaide will be at Thebarton Theatre or HQ. Later in the set, we got our second Bruce Springsteen cover of the night with a wonderful version of Dancing In The Dark Dean then played his number one hit Be Alright and I wonder if there has ever a more heartfelt Australian lyric than “I know you love her but it’s over mate” Absolutely stirring stuff.
As usual, the acoustics at The Gov sound incredible and along with the wonderful staff they have it is not hard to see why it has won the best venue many times. The second show for Dean at the Gov on the 20th of December is sold out but I suggest you go to Facebook and say you are interested in the event and you be able to score a ticket from someone who can no longer go. Dean ended with his first huge hit Waves which was another singalong and a perfect end to the night.
Live Review by Richard De Pizzol