Live Review: City & Colour w/ Little May @ The Tivoli

Saturday night The Tivoli was packed to the rafters with an intimate 1,500 punters. Sold-out by the irresistible City & Colour a.k.a Dallas Green. Over a five album journey Green has developed a velvet-smooth, aggressive blues that has become universally enjoyable. Between tours and recording with his post-hardcore project Alexisonfire, the Canadian talent has been busy working on each album, touring endlessly worldwide and working on another side project You + Me. Now he was back to grace Brisbane with his presence after hitting up the notorious Bluesfest in Byron Bay the night before.

Supporting the Canadian outfit was Sydney trio Little May. Accidentally appearing on stage 15 minutes too early, lead vocalist Hannah Field politely apologised and introduced themselves before cautiously retreating. The trio arrived back on stage with an additional two backing musos. Bringing to the stage a unique style of indie pop with a slight country twang, the girls warmed up the tame crowd… except for those ‘two, drunk white girls’ who took selfies with flash on the entire time. Similar to Dixie Chicks the vocal harmonies were warm and mesmerising. Adding onto the powerful vocal rasp was the aggressive combo of distorted guitar and egg shaker. Although Field’s vocals were the focus of Little May’s songs backing vocalist and guitarist Annie Hamilton stood out in the set with her delicate tone. Little May finished with crowd favourite Remind Me and left the venue buzzing with excitement for City & Colour.

Catch Little May on their album tour in May. Check out the details HERE

With the natural intimacy The Tivoli provides the crowd began to sweat with anticipation and the temperature in the room went through the roof. People became restless as the time for City & Colour’s set crept closer and closer. Seven minutes had passed since the time Green and his pals were due to make an appearance and you could see the punter’s nerves being stretched, jumping at every roadie to come near the stage. Finally the moment we’d all been waiting for had arrived and the room was lifted up in a roar as Green entered the stage followed by his band. Diving straight into the beautifully haunting track Woman, the opening track to City & Colour’s 2015 album ‘If I Should Go Before You’ and the crowd was immediately mesmerised.

Those who had not seen Green perform before stood out like sore thumbs, with mouths wide open and eyes wide. Although it was my second time seeing the man in the flesh and I probably wore this expression multiple times throughout the set. His signature tone pierced through the venue, dancing over smoky guitar and poetry. In between songs he casually sipped on his whiskey throwing banter back and forth with the crowd. In response to one punter asking for his drink he replied “if only there were a bar nearby”.

The highlight of the night was a breathtaking rendition of his very own Comin’ Home, first released in 2005. “This is a very old song,” he says, “with a twist of lime.” There were no words missed as the crowd sang along to the universal favourite. Slowed down to sink into every lyric accompanied by soft but stirring electric guitar Comin’ Home brought tears to the eyes of many.

Flowing through many tracks old and new City & Colour left the stage but it wasn’t long before Green was back with just his guitar. Standing alone he crooned, “there’s a funeral procession on the highway” and the crowd roared. He followed Body In A Box by Northern Wind and finally threw in all time crowd pleaser, The Girl along with a cheeky challenge to not film the song.

City & Colour Australian Tour Dates

SAT 2 APRIL
Red Hill Auditorium, Perth
MON 4 APRIL
Enmore Theatre, Sydney
TUES 5 APRIL
Enmore Theatre,Sydney
FRI 8 APRIL
Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul (All Ages)

Get Tickets HERE