Odette, Cry Club, Pinkish Blu @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 14/5/2021
Tonight’s show at the sold-out Lion Arts factory started with Adelaide’s own Pinkish Blu who played an extremely tight and well-executed set. I saw them at GTM in 2019 and to me, they sound even better now with another two years of playing together. I hear dream pop and indie in their sound sort of like the bands 1975 and Owl City. They started with Start a Band and ended with the singalong Backward both released this year. In between these two songs these excellent musicians played some wonderful songs from their 2020 EP as well as a song they were actually recording earlier in the day. I look forward to seeing these guys again doing their own show.
Next up was Cry Club who had already been to Adelaide for three performances so far in 2021 and their infectious energy and great songs seem to already have made many Adelaide fans as many audience members were singing along to the songs. Cry Club formed in Melbourne in 2018 and late last year released their debut album God, I’m Such a Mess”. Heather on vocals has an incredible spirit and spark and reminded me of Patience from the Grates but with a more dangerous and cheeky nature. They played most of the songs from their magnificent album that is both about self-reflection and self-empowerment. Highlights from their set and the lyrics that show these sentiments were: Nine of Swords (lyrics “All I want is to get better”), Dissolve (lyrics” Is it my anxiety that makes me think you’re sick of me”) and the opening track DFTM (lyrics “Don’t F* touch me”) Cry Club are such a vibrant and professional band I fully expect them to be playing at either GTM or Laneway next year as well as festival stages all over the world soon.
Lastly, tonight is Odette presented her 2021 album Herald to Adelaide audiences for the first time. Tonight we experienced a powerhouse performance from the 23-year-old Sydneysider. I had a feeling it was going to be good as her latest album is remarkable and from the onset, the highly appreciative audience was singing along to all the songs from the new album Odette was here last for WOMADelaide 2020 and just keeps better with time. Her vitality on stage was on display tonight with her jumping and dancing all over the stage.
The love between the audience and Odette was something to behold and I think it caused Odette to get quite emotional during Lotus Eaters which was written when she was 16. It is hard to come up with highlights as it was all so good but Amends and Dwell from the new album were outstanding as were Watch Me Read You and Take It To The Heart from the first album all highlighted her incredible voice.
The album Herald is more orchestrated than her first and yet tonight with just another keyboard player and a drummer she was able to recreate it with different energy and yet make it all sound brilliant. I would love to see her perform the whole album with an orchestra as it would really lend itself to that and I think Sydney’s Vivid festival or Adelaide’s Illuminate festival would be perfect for that later in the year.
Odette finished the set with a fun cover of ACDC’s Thunderstruck followed by What I Know is Not Enough before an encore of Take it to the Heart and then finally Mandible from Herald. Odette turned around a couple of times before she left as it seemed hard for her to go such was the connection between audience and performer tonight.
Live Review By Richard De Pizzol