Bernard Fanning, the former front man from Powderfinger, needs no introduction when he is back in his homeland. With him spending time between Spain and Queensland due to his family situation, we don’t get to experience his melodious vocals and music live all that often. He does know where his hard core audience resides so a trip back to Australia does have many benefits for him.

With some new songs written on his trusty acoustic guitar, Fanning has strapped them to his luggage and returned for a brief tour around Australia. Brevity is the key, with only a handful of shows, and tonight we found him launching the Twilight At Taronga Zoo series of concerts under a damn fine summer sky. With cold beer and other libations, dodgy burritos and fried food for sale, the crowd settled down around picnic hampers and soaked up the environment. Was that the sound of a lion or was that your stomach?

Indie/Folk Sydney based band Little May warmed up the mob with a very pleasant and engaging set. The band put forth a graceful and full sound that fit in perfectly to a back drop of beautiful clouds as the sun began its descent towards the Harbour Bridge.

Little May share their lead vocal duties amongst their members. The splendour of their harmonies was engaging as their sound echoed between English folk and The Velvet Underground. As per usual with a support act in an outdoor event, their appearance was secondary as people settled in; but as they progressed you could see the attention of the crowd turn more towards the sound this outfit was projecting. More Little May was to be revealed later, but this young band definitely made some new fans by the end of the night.

Fanning came onstage to rapturous applause and made it clear that since he had the crowd’s attention he was going to be road testing some of his new creations. With that in mind he played a tender ballad in the distinctive Fanningesque style entitled ‘Unpicking A Puzzle’. Following this with the moving ‘Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)’ he made it clear he was in fine vocal form and front of house sound for the acoustic numbers was just perfect.

With a band that included Matt Engelbrecht on bass, Andrew Morris on guitars, John Bedegood on keys and Declan Kelly taking care of the drumming in fine fashion, they launched into four songs from the outstanding Tea and Sympathy album. ‘Hope and Validation’, ‘Thrill Is Gone’, ‘Songbird’, and ‘Not Finished Just Yet’ were transported with a joy and energy that beamed from the smiles of all members of the band. The sound veered between country rock and folk early on and this gave the crowd a chance to get loose and sing along.

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With a week of rehearsals and only three gigs under their collective belts, these gentlemen were locked in from the kick off. Fanning invited more of the crowd to join the small gathering at the front of the stage and that gave many the impetus to get off their blankets and get down to some swaying and bopping. The Fanning heart throb factor is still in place and the make-up of the crowd up front demonstrated that.

With a sunset painting the scalloped clouds over the Opera House and Harbour Bridge a dazzling orange, Fanning and friends hit the zoo up with a grouping of new tunes. Little May joined the throng onstage for stunning vocals on ‘Belly Of The Beast’ and this was one of the most magnificent sonic moments of the evening.

With a big smile and laughter all over the stage, Fanning looked over the crowd and Taronga Zoo and stated he could do this every year. Most of the gathering felt the same by this point and more people got to their feet as Fanning left the new tunes behind and headed out to more familiar waters.

‘Which Way Home’ and ‘ Wish You Well’ rocked out and the only Powderfinger offering, ‘Waiting For The Sun’ was happily lapped up by his fans. The Tea and Sympathy release made up the bulk of the offerings tonight and hearing those songs live again made you understand why that record was Number 1 in the charts 10 years ago.

The Boxtop’s ‘The Letter’, in true Joe Cocker fashion, ended the festivities with Fanning and Morris trading vocal duties and the band putting out a glorious sound. If it was not for the animals needing some peace and quiet it appeared that Fanning and the band he called The Boilers might have rocked out a bit more.

Taronga Zoo picked an awesome talent to launch their revamped Twilight Series. It was a stellar night under the moon and stars of Sydney and the chance to reconvene with this Australian songwriter under these circumstances made it a perfect alignment for all in attendance.

Check out the photo gallery from the show here.

Set List

Unpicking a puzzle
Departures (Blue Toowong Skies)
Hope & Validation
Thrill Is Gone
Songbird
Not Finished Just Yet
Belly of the Beast
Weekend of Mystery
How Could You Be So Reckless
Which Way Home?
The Strangest Thing
Wish You Well
Waiting For The Sun
Yesterday’s Gone
The Letter (Joe Cocker)

 

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