Live Review: All Our Exes Live In Texas, Ports

Four-piece Irish folk band Ports are an intimate example of how music can genuinely make your heart stop. Performing their debut album The Devil Is A Songbird, Ports are charming lads that have such a grasp over their performance, you want to personally tell them how proud of them you are. Using nothing but two acoustic guitars, a box for a drum, and a bass, Ports construct folk music for a modern ear. Reminiscent of Punch Brothers and Boy & Bear, if you want music that makes you pause completely, catch them live! (If you're a really nice crowd, they'll sing completely acoustic with some really cool tricks).

I've seen All Our Exes Live In Texas three times now, and each time the girls deliver. Made up of some of Sydney's best singer-songwriters, All Our Exes Live In Texas bring heartbreak and intimacy to their set. But the girls are fantastic at their banter and you can tell that they love each other even when they're getting roasted. The Devil's Part tour highlights the girls' killer harmonies and smart writing. It's hard to describe what it's like to see the girls live. You experience their love and their heartbreak as they do. Elana Stone and her accordion cut to your core in I'm Gonna Get My Heart Cut Out - a firm highlight, while Hannah Crofts introduces a new song that features the chorus "I'm so lonely, I'm not happy" (as Elana jokes "It's so much fun to sing that song!").

All Our Exes Live In Texas finished with a completely acoustic version of Don't Cry with Ports, leaving the room in awe and very likely in tears. Well, at least I was.