Live Review: Ben Howard, Andrew Kidman & The Windy Hills

Andrew Kidman & The Windy Hills, or rather just one Windy Hill tonight, open the evening with a pared back acoustic configuration that is sweet and intimate, despite an almost packed room that mills restlessly yet is surprisingly receptive.

Making up for his Bluesfest cancellation with two sold-out nights at The Tivoli, Ben Howard quietly gets to work on the I Forget Where We Were Australian tour with an unadorned rendition of the album’s vinyl bonus, Am I In Your Light?, before moving straight into the more mild mannered moments of his latest release. As the scruffy-haired Brit labours over the delicate riff of Conrad, the stage lights from behind create an ethereal atmosphere for his alternative folk musings, especially as the band close it out with unaccompanied harmonies. Throughout the entire set the simple yet perfectly choreographed lighting design brings extra depth, underlining some of the most poignant lyrical moments with class – during All Is Now Harmed, Howard and his five-piece band appear almost like holograms. I Forget Where We Were was made for live performance; tender and sentimental in the first instance, guitars become incrementally more urgent and full of ache until the build hits the sweet watershed moment. Howard’s not here to dwell on the upbeat acoustic happiness found on his widely successful debut album Every Kingdom, notably skipping Only Love and instead opting to rearrange a select couple including the inspirational Keep Your Head Up. 

As he sips on a glass of wine with a relaxed vibe and addresses the audience for the first time at the midway point with a very polite, “Very nice to be here, thank you,” it’s interesting to note the contrast from his first Brisbane visit in 2013 where he appeared genuinely shocked by the crowd singing along. A cover of Sharon Van Etten’s Every Time The Sun Comes Up is a cute, plodding, country-tinged moment that breaks the set before the dark tones of Small Things highlight Howard’s expert mood-building skills, with help from India Bourne’s haunting cello and backing vocals. The dynamic between the six musicians is a joy to watch throughout, most notably in the set closer as Howard punctuates the most biting lines of End Of The Affair with stabs of his guitar, priming the audience for the moment the band can unleash an undeniable groove despite a cleverly fluctuating pace around a howling, distraught vocal. Following a sweet solo encore of crowd favourite Old Pine, the band join to farewell with The Wolves, and the brooding Esmerelda finalises a brilliant performance of epic emotional proportions.