JACOB COLLIER

+ Sammi Constantine

@ Metro Theatre

30/04/18

(Live Review)

Reviewer: Esther Triffitt

British musician/essentially all round genius Jacob Collier took to Australia this week for his first time, with sold out shows in both Sydney and Melbourne, joined by Central Coast electro-pop artist Sammi Constantine.

Sammi Constantine started off the night, singing songs ‘Let You Go’ and ‘Rewind’, while also mentioning to the crowd that although her music is quite different to Collier’s, she felt honoured to support him, and explained that her lyrics were what made her music special. Though not to my particular taste, Constantine’s constant energy and confidence throughout her set got the early crowd dancing and in a good mood before Jacob set onto the stage, showing off her true talent as a performer and artist.

Jacob stepped out to the sold out crowd at the Metro Theatre, starting off with a Stevie Wonder cover of ‘Don’t You Worry About A Thing’, to then put his own twist on it, with the abundance of instruments he had on stage (over 7 to put a picture to it), all the while showing off his incredible vocal range.

Jacob then jumped into a Burt Bacharach cover of ‘(They Long To Be) Close To You’, while switching between a bass, guitar, piano, and drums throughout, playing each piece not only in succession but in layers, looping each bit as he went.

Spending a lot of time on the harmoniser while reeling off vocal chorus’, Collier’s talent gave nothing short of a mind-blowing show for Australian fans for the first time.

Collier transitioned into ‘Hideaway’ and ‘Don’t You Know’, while also chucking a little banter to the audience between tracks, showing off his charisma and true showmanship.

During ‘Down The Line’ and ‘Saviour’, Collier involved punters by getting the crowd to clap along in ‘Down The Line’, and splitting the crowd in half during the latter to sing four lines each creating a gospel effect of some sort while he used the keys and sung over the top, shedding a folky feeling over his music blooming into elaborate cadenzas.

Collier went on to cover another Stevie Wonder song (‘You and I’) and George Gershwin’s ‘Fascinating Rhythm’, accompanied by a jazz infused piano solo, and looped vocal harmonies.

Collier ended the night with a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Blackbird’, and all the while showing off his ingenious skills, his pure enjoyment and charisma onstage cultivated an atmosphere so rarely seen. Perhaps if another artist had attempted to do the same thing, it would be seen as potentially boastful.

The show exceeded my already high expectations and was definitely one of the best gigs I’d seen in a while.

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