Apr 16, 2010 (14 years ago) Notes Live Enmore, New South Wales, Australia
Indie, Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Alternative, and Australian Singer-Songwriter.
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Perry Keyes, Notes Live - 16 April, 2010
A jam-packed Notes Live joined Perry Keyes for a stroll through the streets and sounds of Johnny Ray’s Downtown.
Notes Live was originally conceived as a seated, intimate dinner & show type venue, but this is probably the first time the diners seated down front were outnumbered by those standing behind the tables. The occasion, the launch of the highly regarded new album Johnny Ray’s Downtown, by knockabout local songwriter Perry Keyes. And the night was just plain triumphant.
Keyes and the band were black-clad and hatted for the occasion - as a nod to a recently witnessed Lyle Lovett – and had the crowd reverentially hushed during, and ecstatically erupting after, each and every song. The songs themselves deal with gritty tales of inner city Sydney in days gone by, when times were simpler, but love and life still proved complicated.
While some big feelings are sung about, it’s the small details that litter the songs, with street names, suburbs and sports stars signposting the unravelling tales of everyday troubles that make them so rich and gripping. And probably explains why so many people are here and feeling so strongly about them. You can relate to the lives played out on the same streets as yours, if not some of the troubles that beset them.
We get to hear the great bulk of the new record, with Keyes accompanied by a crack band - featuring the power-pop polish of Michael Carpenter, Casey Atkins and Russell Crawford, the soul-drenched keys of Johnny G and the country-throb crackling bass of Charlie Lee - utilizing what Keyes jokingly refers to as ‘Brian Wilson’s touring gear’ providing further musical enlightenment.
Keyes brings former-flame and album collaborator Bek-Jean Stewart on for some sweetly spirited singing on early track ‘Matraville Trees’ and the reflective ballad ‘Queen of Everone’s Hearts’ and to close the evening. The crowd refuse to leave without more though and we get two more songs concerning two subjects obviously close to Keyes heart – the mighty South Sydney Rabbitohs and The Clash in ‘The Day John Satler Broke His Jaw’ and ‘Joe Strummer’. Glory Glory.
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