Live Review: The Black Sorrows, Trevor Jalla

The majestic Victoria Hall in Fremantle, the home of the Fly By Night Musician's Club, is certainly one of, if not the, most impressive live music venues in Perth, and this evening it was filled early with an expectant crowd keen to catch The Black Sorrows on their latest foray to the west.

Opening up proceedings for the evening was local artist Trevor Jalla. A very accomplished guitarist and vocalist, Jalla delivered a set that consisted predominantly of covers such as Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues and Ring Of Fire and an acoustic take on Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun. The highlight of his performance, however, was A Captain's Final Drift — an original piece from his forthcoming EP and which he has dedicated to his grandfather. While his set of covers appeared to go down well with the large, mainly 50-something crowd, it would have been interesting to have had the opportunity to hear more of his original material as it could have perhaps opened his work up to an otherwise untapped and unfamiliar audience.

After a brief break, Joe Camilleri and The Black Sorrows took to the stage much to the delight of the crowd. With a career that has now spanned some 50 years, Camilleri was obviously at ease crooning, "You lied to me baby," as the audience rose from their seats and started making their way up towards the front of the stage. By the time the band launched into their third song, the hit Hold On To Me, The Black Sorrows well and truly had the crowd in the palms of their collective hands as they danced and sang lovingly along.

They kept the crowd going as they followed up with 2004's Daughters Of Glory before Camilleri swapped from guitar to saxophone for a couple of numbers including Hit And Run, harking back to his days with Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons. The band then turned things back just a notch with The Chosen Ones, which again saw most of the audience happily singing along, before launching into Brown Eyed Girl, a song that Camilleri joked that he rarely plays, only having performed it for around the last two hundred shows.

The Black Sorrows continued with Harley And Rose before Camilleri paused to acknowledge the birthday of drummer Johnny Salerno - who joined the band at short notice, filling in more than ably for Angus Burchall on this tour. The crowd were back up and dancing as the oh so familiar opening saxophone riff of 1979's Shape I'm In once again dragged them all towards front of the stage where they happily stayed for the remainder of the evening.

Overall, The Black Sorrows delivered the solid, polished performance that you would expect from such a seasoned and accomplished group of musicians. Some of the songs seemed to go a little too long with extended solos and audience singalongs, but at the end of the day they knew exactly what their crowd wanted and that was exactly what they delivered, sending them all home happy.