At 9.05pm to a sprinkling of early punters, walks on Georgia Rodgers and her big red guitar. Georgia is a cool cat, solo blues, soul, guitarist, singer songwriter. My first impressions were that if Melissa Etheridge and Chris Isaak had a love child Georgia would be the result. She is a blues storyteller who plays great guitar riffs.
We were treated to just a sample size set of 4 songs and the crowd were mesmerized by the awesome guitar licks and her emotive voice. Georgia has a voice that commands attention and very talented fingers that make her guitar strings talk. As the small crowd grew I heard a random audience member say to Georgia’s mum, “You should be very proud, she is an awesome talent.”
Georgia may be small in stature, but she is definitely big in sound. I believe Georgia will only get better with time and I look forward to seeing more of her work. You can check out Georgia on her social media pages and Spotify.
GALLERY
The Mojo Corner are a 7-piece band composed of Kane Sheriff on drums, Johnny Hawken on vocals and guitar, Shaun Hilton on bass, Mitch Rice on keyboard, Donna Camalliri on vocals, Ameli Leichnitz on vocals and Rory Millar on harmonica and vocals. They play funky, blues, roots and soul music with a touch of country and are not caught up into one category.
As they played I kept picturing the band as an Australian version of “The Commitments” without the accents. They fill the stage with energy from the funky key playing and strong drum and bass rhythms. Mojo Corner was fun to watch and had the crowd moving and clapping. The band swaps between lead vocals and harmonica player Rory’s blues vocals to Johnny and his guitar more country vocals. It is a good mix topped off with Donna and Ameli’s vocals and harmonies, which are spot on.
The Mojo Corner have 3 albums available and played a selection of their songs in a 10 song set. Georgia and The Mojo Corner were the perfect lead up to the main act.
GALLERY
10.55pm at the Northcote social club, the black curtains are closed. As the curtains part we hear the sound of a guitar and there she is the Aussie Queen of the Blues Dallas Frasca. Dallas never disappoints. Last time I saw Dallas it was at the Tote on her “River Queen” tour. Tonight is the “Force of Nature” album tour which contains her “River Queen” hit. It has taken 4 years for this album to be completed and it is well worth the wait. Dallas is on stage with drummer Josh Barber and later joined by the ever talented back up singers Mez Coleman and Johnny Costin and a special appearance of the “Metal Lord” aka Kit on guitar.
The new album gives you a peek into Dallas’s soul, with her strong voice, powerful words and guitar playing. My favourite track, which was performed tonight is “You are Glorious”. I just love the chorus and glimmering harmonies with the modern gospel sound. Dallas performed 13 songs, mainly original with a Led Zeppelin cover thrown in. She switched from electric to acoustic guitars with vocals with and without back up singers. The now quite full social club, with one punter coming all the way from WA , was in full voice, joining in singing the choruses , clapping and swapping banter with Dallas. To quote Dallas “This is my favourite tour yet”.
The powerful, strong Dallas Frasca is a joy to watch perform. Dallas closed the show with two extra back up singers plucked from the crowd and a blow up dinghy crowd surfing across the raised arms of the punters. We need commercial radio to support our local talent. We need Dallas and the next generation of strong women like Georgia to be seen and heard by the public. My advice is if you haven’t seen or heard Dallas Frasca music go and look for it . I know you will love it. Support the Aussie music scene and I am sure you will have a great night out, or a great night in just listening to it.
GALLERY
Photos by Oz Greeny’s Photography
