Live Review: George Maple, Cxloe, Mimi

The penultimate stop on George Maple's national Lover album tour took place at The Gov in Adelaide. Due to competing with the "Mad March" celebrations in the city, the numbers at this show were surprisingly small. Nevertheless, Maple put on a huge show thanks to impressive strobe lighting, her flawless voice and rapid costume changes that all perfectly complemented her knee-high boots!

On opening duties for this all-girl power line-up were Mimi and Cxloe. Melbourne-based DJ Mimi had the difficult task of enticing Friday knock-off drinkers onto the dancefloor. But her set proved to be a bit much for the relaxed crowd who stayed put in the beer garden. Sydney's Cxloe changed the pace a bit with a few familiar covers. However, it was her single Tough Love that proved to be a winner with the eventually receptive crowd. She left the crowd on a high note with an upbeat rendition of Billie Eilish's Bellyache.

George Maple had a few issues at the start of the night. This resulted in a rough opener due to a few sound issues. Eventually, Lover was performed with hectic strobe lights and back-up dancers, which was a bit of distraction from her sensual and breathy voice. Another interesting highlight of the night was her costume changes after every few songs. Maple's favourite cuts from contemporary artists such as Gesaffelstein and Drake allowed the dancers to perform for a few minutes before she returned to the stage wearing a different sparkly number. The small audience was responsive to both her lesser-known hits and triple j favourites, with exactly three people getting up on shoulders for a couple of songs.

Maple closed the set with Talk Talk and an extended version of Hero. However, the house lights at The Gov had not yet gone up. Adelaide was obviously up for an encore. An excited member of the crowd requested Maple's 2013 track Fixed, which she sang for a few lines before transitioning into an a cappella version of Hero. Briefly, Maple launched into a Nina Simone cover before thanking her crowd for the final time. Maple is a powerful vocalist with a distinctive artistic vision and both of these things helped in creating this wholesome-yet-intimate experience.