Gig Watch: Xavier Rudd - The Forum

By Lisa Dib

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Xavier Rudd loves the Didge!

Sigh. Ever since I did my first phone interview with Canadian balladeer Jeremy Fisher (that's right - I'm name dropping in the opening paragraph!), I’ve had something of a schoolgirl crush. His warm nature and pretty ditties are like big aural hugs.

He opens his set with Left Behind from his latest album, "Goodbye Blue Monday", and the crowd is hooked. Expecting a sub-par support act (like so many other shows have offered lately), Jeremy’s charm puts the audience at ease even if they may not entirely be paying full attention to him.

He warms up to a less-than-responsive crowd by saying gently, “I have a declaration to make…I love you” and dedicating hit single Cigarette to “those people that yell my name from the dark”. Some groan, most cheer, I sit quietly and enjoy an artist from the better camp of folk pop singers like Ben Kweller and Ryan Adams. He officially wins everyone in the room over by covering You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC and not ruining the hell out of it. He runs through a medley of Acca covers, basing their success of the collective cheers of the room. After he leaves, we miss him.

Xavier Rudd is almost unnoticeable due to the size of his instruments (no pun intended); he uses more didgeridoos than one would assume was necessary, but does wonders with the sounds on offer.

The show opens with various images of world disasters : abuse, poverty, all the hot buttons the hippie community use against detractors. The loud, booming didgeridoo scares the hell out of me, until Rudd takes to the stage and his loveable demeanor fills the theatre like a mushroom cloud.

He opens with GBA: the crowd is already getting into it. Hippies and businessmen alike share beer and groove to various world sounds. The Torquay boy is electric. He plays largely from latest album, "White Moth" (it is the White Moth tour after all!) including most recent single Better People. The massive Let Me Be produces such an almighty cheer from the crowd I pledge to buy earplugs before my next concert.

Having recently toured America, and signing a worldwide deal to Universal, Rudd is soon going to be Oz’s next big export.

I've never seen a better representative for Australia….Go Team Xavier!

Xavier Rudd wowed the audience with his musical skill

Overall: 80%

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