Missy Higgins @ Her Majesty’s Theatre, Adelaide 30/5/2024
How can anyone not like Missy Higgins? It was a stellar performance from Australia’s sweetheart Missy Higgins who was performing the first of two sold out shows at the iconic Her Majesty’s Theatre in the heart of the city. This tour was a little different from other tours and festivals being more of an intimate affair in a seated theatre with lighting and production to create an ambience to heighten the emotion of these songs we all grown to love. Combined with story telling and how these songs originated made it so much more personal connecting on a far deeper level.
Prior to the tour Missy reached out through her socials about what songs fans they would like her to play as part of what would be Act One. There were some incredibly powerful and emotive moments and the magic of her music is how these songs connect and resonates with fans on so many different levels who maybe seeking solace to negotiate their way through life’s challenges. Fans were also treated to songs from her forthcoming album The Second Act.
Emerging from the darkness side of side Missy thought the crowd was a little quiet but right from the opening notes of Forgive Me they were transfixed. As the show started to unfold this was a clever introspective of the life and times of Missy Higgins and the stories behind the music were equally as captivating and relatable. Moving towards the “fancy piano” to play Falling which was followed by work in progress Blue Velvet Dress which was about the night that they called it quits ending their marriage. Missy described the songwriting for her forthcoming album and writing songs as a “cathartic” experience in adjusting to life being a single mum adding that these are quite “sad songs”.
You Should Run followed and Missy spoke about the need to be authentic and share your pain with her take on the tall poppy syndrome shining through Sugar Cane. Cactus And The Beat livened things up a bit originally written for her year twelve jazz piano concert (good mark for composition and a bad mark for performance according to Missy). There was another “poor me” song with When Four Became Three and Complicated Truth. Missy spoke about things looking more hopeful sharing that sense of optimism in the final song of the first set with The Second Act.
After a short intermission the bar was lifted a couple of notches to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of her landmark album The Sound As White. Interestingly the album was played in full but not start to end with a band who were top shelf. The song that started it this journey All For Believing kicked things off followed by Katie. Missy spoke about writing disturbing stories with fictional characters in her younger years describing The River a a disturbing number with a happy beat. “Turning heartache in to cash” was a reference to her costume created for the tour with the embroidery featuring parts of the songs from the album.
It was a treasure trove of gold with the likes of Ten Days, This Is How Goes, Casualty and Any Day Now. Time flies when you’re having fun which continued on They Weren’t There and Don’t Ever. Missy revealed who The Special Two was actually about (her sister) and the gem of a story that went along with that. Scar was a big moment with the crowd singing a long and the celebrations wrapping up with the title track The Sound Of White. This a great show filled with great songs and stories on the life and times of Missy Higgins.
Live Review By Rob Lyon