Live Review: José González

Phew, what a way to really get Perth International Arts Festival into gear — José González performed to a sold out crowd (tickets went within weeks of the announcement) at the newly placed Chevron Festival Gardens on Friday night, which is now situated alongside the freshly opened Elizabeth Quay to compliment all the happenings there.

Surprisingly, despite carnival rides taking place behind the outdoor stage, background noise was very minimal, and from the moment Gonzalez unassumingly wandered out and began plucking away at his acoustic guitar to opener Crosses, everyone was transfixed. Very little was said by González between tracks, and even less by the band who joined him after the first tune, but it was to be expected — the man's songs tend to be brooding by nature. That said, the way they were sung on this particular evening, especially with the support of the band, was done so with confidence and a resonating sense of feeling.

A surprise cover of Kylie Minogue's Hand On Your Heart was met with a few amused murmurs across the audience, but González made the song entirely his. “This track is called— oh!”, he was later cut off by the roar of a motorcycle riding past and a chuckle resonated — the little distractions made you realise just how involved you were in the performance and the uncanny ability González has to drag you in and keep you under his spell.

A performance of Massive Attack's Teardrop was a huge highlight, as was when keyboardist/percussionist James Mathe took over vocal duties to perform Home, but the encore was the icing on the cake and played out the night perfectly — there was a solo rendition of Line Of Fire, before the band joined in for With The Ink Of A Ghost and Down The Line — it seemed quite fitting that they would end the set with the line, “Don't let the darkness eat you up.” It was a truly uplifting and magical show to witness.