Live Review: The Audreys

The Audreys don’t perform in their hometown of Adelaide often, but when they do, it’s usually in a salubrious setting and before a devoted crowd. This show was no exception, being a late Sunday afternoon gig in the beautiful Goodwood Road church that hosts the Trinity Sessions.

The Audreys’ gigs are always jovial affairs (despite the often-melancholy subject matter of the songs), and as the duo of Taasha Coates and Tristan Goodall took to the stage, alcohol in hand, they immediately teased us over the fact that they could drink in the venue and we couldn’t. Thankfully the near two-hour show would include an intermission break to allow us to fuel up on beverages.

Opener Lonesome Valley was a perfectly subtle beginning. Early standouts included the “hit” You & Steve McQueen and Small Things, the former including the “jazz bass solo you didn’t know you needed”.

The last time the band played in the church was apparently during a large storm, which the singer swears was brought on by the band swearing during the gig. While there would be no wrath felt this time, Coates did test the hearing of the “big guy upstairs” with a few choice words here and there. This led to a hilarious anecdote about being named and shamed as a potty-mouth by her seven-year-old child at a guest speaker appearance to do with ‘parent guilt’.

Missing from the usual instrument list was Coates’ melodica (given away to a fan at the previous night’s show in Melbourne) and Goodall’s banjo (no explanation given). In attendance instead was a vintage 1983 Casio keyboard, which provided a lot of entertainment value, as well as a disco beat for one number (“We are the only band that can play a sad song over that beat,” the singer joked).

A couple of songs from Coates’ excellent 2016 solo album, Taasha Coates & Her Melancholy Sweethearts were featured, including High Times, a song about all her ex-boyfriends (Goodall confirming he assisted her with its writing – helping her “cut it down from 16 verses down to four”).

The band’s regular cover of INXS’s Don’t Change was as beautiful as always – and we were also treated to a sublime cover of Ratcat’s 1991 classic That Ain’t Bad.

After 14 years together, The Audreys are still going strong.