Orianthi returned to WA for night two of her long-awaited five-night Australian Tour and it was an evening to remember as she showed off her incredible guitar skills, song writing prowess and warmth to the generous mid-week crowd.
The evening started brightly with Brisbane singer songwriter Lily Grace warming the crowd with her country-infused acoustic set comprising of ten well-placed songs. Kicking off with ‘Give Me That’, Lily displayed her skills with a mix of her own songs drizzled with a couple of covers for good measure. Her originals were catchy and beautifully delivered as she breezed through tracks like ‘The Summer That Got Away’, ‘Can’t Be Your Juliet’, ‘Maybe So’, ‘I Don’t Want To Cry On My Birthday’, ‘Bet On Us’ and the title track from her debut album ‘ Old Enough To Know Better’.
David Allan Coe’s ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ was a wonderful inclusion as was the John Denver classic ‘Take Me Home Country Road’, which had the Fremantle crowd in full voice. As Lily heads to relocate in Nashville in the coming weeks we can only wish her well and watch her rise.
Set List: Give Me That, The Summer That Got Away, Can’t Be Your Juliet, Maybe So, I Don’t Want to Cry On My Birthday, Tennessee Whiskey, Bet On Us, Old Enough To Know Better, Take Me Home Country Road, Follow My Road
Orianthi arrived on stage to a warm reception, dressed in knee high boots, leather skirt, black lace top and green brimmed hat, her trusty PRS draped across her shoulder. It was a set grazed across a variety of genres from blues to rock, and which covered most albums from her back catalogue’, as she delved deep and delivered some new wonderful material too, all which was well received.
Firing straight from the off, Ori blazed into ‘Light It Up’ from latest album ‘Rock Candy’ before taking it right back to her 2013 album ‘Heaven In This Hell’, produced by Dave Stewart, delivering ‘You Don’t Wanna Know’, the first of three taken from this release, with ‘How do You Sleep’ and the title track the others played tonight.
Accompanied by her wonderful rhythm section, comprising of bass player Justin Andres and drummer Warren Trout, Orianthi show her Blues skills with her mesmerising delivery of ‘ First Time Blues’. We then took a trip right back to where it all began, with ‘What’s It Gonna Be’ from her 2009 album ‘Believe’, before Ori address the crowd, reminiscing about her last time in WA playing at Soundwave with Richie Sambora and reminding us that she shared the bill with Lionel Richie that time. “I loved it here in WA then so it’s great to finally be back.” A few tuning issues allowed Orianthi to joke, “Not sure what’s going on tonight! It must be the Indian Ocean sea air.” We didn’t notice in the slightest.
Trout left the stage as Andres swapped out his bass to join Ori for an acoustic three-song interlude which broke the set up nicely. The electricity returned and being a fan of her ‘O’ album I was excited to hear ‘Sinner’s Hymn’ live and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Latest single ‘Some Kind of Feeling’ sounded fabulous, building excitement to the new album scheduled for release later this year.
“I supported ZZ Top when I was just sixteen years old, so it’s really hard to believe I’m now good friends with Billy Gibbons. Shall we play some ZZ Top?” There was only one answer to that from the audience, as Orianthi tore into ‘Sharp Dressed Man’ before one of my highlights of tonight’s show, the incredible ‘How Do You Sleep?’, showing the emotive side to Orianthi’s playing – goosebumps on the back of my neck as she teased each note from the strings.
“Would you like to hear something brand new?” ‘Dark Days Are Gone’ once again had the crowd excited for what’s to come with the new full-length release. ‘According To You’ brought us near to the close with the obligatory thank you’s and band introduction following, before the show closer, Hendix’s ‘Voodoo Child’. Orianthi showed tonight why she has been able to share the stage & recording studios with some of the biggest artists in the world. It was a special night to see such an incredible guitar player up so close & personal. If you haven’t got your tickets left for the remaining three shows, then what are you waiting for!!
We would like to take this opportunity to send our thoughts and prayers to Orianthi and her friends & families who are going through a heart-breaking fight with the natural disaster currently playing out in LA and the surrounding areas.
Set List: Light It Up, You Don’t Wanna Know, Never Make A Move, First Time Blues, What’s It Gonna Be, Heaven In This Hell, Acoustic Set, Sinners Hymn, Some Kind Of Feeling, Sharp Dressed Man, How Do U Sleep, Dark Days Are Gone, According to You, Voodoo Child
With thanks to Gerrard Allman Events for the hospitality and media access.
GALLERY: Photos by Mark Diggins
