Bob Evans LIVE Perth, 3 May 2013

3 May 2013, The Bakery
Review & photos by Maree King

Bob Evans aka Kevin Mitchell returns to Perth on this leg of his Familiar Stranger tour to promote his fourth solo album and it’s a long time on from the 2003 release of Suburban Kid. Playing amongst the industrial/retro design of The Bakery in Northbridge, as always he treats the crowd to a very personal performance. His uncanny ability to connect on a personal level with his audience increases his likeability from the diverse crowd. The Famililar Stranger album released in March of this year with debut single Don’t Wanna Grow Up Anymore, with Evans doing a small solo tour last year to promote the EP Double Life as the pre-release to Familiar Stranger, which tells the story of his concurrent life with Jebediah and his life as father and husband. There is a song on the album dedicated to his daughter although without direct references would be hard to tell the song is about her. This album is moving away from the recent Alt-country/folk style and mashing it a with a bigger band sound with some his original alternative rock roots.

The gig starts with You Am I’s Davey Lane who plays an amazing electric guitar set  that kicks off things with bang.  He would later return to the stage with Evans and the band, adding a another layer to Bob’s tunes. The Sydney side band Tigertown followed with a great indie rock folk sound, husband and wife team Chris and Charlie Collins on vocals and brothers and sisters on a mix of guitars, violins, synthesisers and drums which shapes the bands warm melodic tones.

Bob Evans hit the stage around 11pm to a waiting crowd, and kicked off the set with Footscray Park and Maps from the new album then slips gently into the old favourites Nowhere Without You and Hand Me Downs, and playing with the dichotomy of the Jebediah style rock and moving to bittersweet ballads effortlessly. The highlight of the gig comes when the band take a little break and Bob slips on his acoustic guitar covered in fairy lights, jumps off the stage and walks through the crowd with a gentle and bittersweet rendition of the ballad Darling Won’t You Come.

Evans was his usual jovial yet humble self, and with lots of people shouting out requests from the floor, he finally agreed to play some on the condition someone got up on stage and sing with him. The crowd became suddenly shy, one of the crowd favourites and most requested was Sadness and Whiskey which he had declined as a request as it was on the playlist later. The band returned and followed with the hits Friend and the well known Don’t You Think Its Time & Pasha Bulker, the band adding a rock flavour to some of Evans’s more folk style songs – Evans dropping to his knees and playing some extended guitar riffs with Davey Lane was a treat for the jebediah fans, and a glimpse of a previous time.

With the final encore he finally convinced a couple to get up, beer in hand, and sing with him, and as Bob finished his bottle of red wine they pumped out a version of “Turn” from his first album Suburban Kid, amongst laughter and forgotten lyrics it was the perfect end to the night!

 

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries