Live Review: William Crighton, Melody Pool

Opening the show was Melody Pool, who performed in a duo with her partner Christopher, lovingly dubbed "Chriso". The set up was unconventional with Chriso on bass and Pool on guitar. If any of the audience were unconvinced that a stripped-back line-up of bass, guitar and vocals would work then they were certainly won over by the end of the second song.

Many of the songs Pool performed were written in recent months, which further proved the power of her performance. Speaking about her writing process in an intro to a new song, My Heir, she said many of her songs are written as letters, either to herself or others. This was a perfect precursor to song Black Dog, about her own depression and how writing about it keeps it from "getting locked into her head".

William Crighton took the stage next with his band, announcing at the top of the show that tonight was is tenth wedding anniversary to his wife Jules, who sings back-up for the band. He opened with the single, Happiness, easily the lightest song of the night. From there he swung into Devil's Tongue, giving a taste of how off-kilter and wild the show would be. From then on Crighton's songs almost erratically jumped from the beautiful and sombre to raucous and powerful, portraying his full range.

The most engaging parts were when Crighton strayed away from the microphone, projecting his powerful voice over the crowd, either in singalong or to simply draw attention back to his poetic lyrics.

Crighton played through much of the recent album, proving just why it was so highly regarded, even opening the encore with the Aussie classic, And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, originally written and performed by Eric Bogle. Crighton explained how the song was taught to him as a young boy in an attempt to combat the nationalism his teacher was noticing in our country. A song which remains potent and relevant, it was made clear why the cover was included on this most recent release.

Crighton's performance is one that proves that live performance can bring the true majesty of the recorded material to life.