Project Description

KASEY CHAMBERS

The Campfire Tour

Canberra Theatre

24 June 2018

Live Review

By Benjamin Smith

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Purchase CAMPFIRE album HERE

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Country music is one of those polarising genres that people either feel a fundamental affinity for or loathe to their core. In an age where people can somehow wear sweaters ironically, the earnestness of country music can sometimes be a little too much to take. It is, however, that kind of sincerity that draws most country music fans in; the unabashed storytelling about home and work and family and country and love and loss is comfortable and familiar in ways very few things are.

In that regard its not hard to see why the Kasey Chambers myth has been so successfully engaging audiences for the two decades since the release of  debut record The Captain. The story of a god fearing, dirt poor kid growing up barefoot in the painted desert of the Nullarbor Plain; living out of the back of a truck and trailer while her daddy hunts foxes for a living and kangaroos for dinner  almost guaranteed her a place among country royalty.

When she appears on stage she is every inch the down home country girl, with a floor length floral dress and aww shucks manners and a campfire scene for the stage set. The image completes when daddy follows her on with a slide guitar and some kid doing his darnedest to channel Neil Young tags behind. This would all start to sound real hokey if it wasn’t so completely authentic and she wasn’t so clearly who she claims to be.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Kasey Chambers play a few times now, so I kind of know what to expect, but for first timers what usually stuns them most is the raw power of her enormous voice. It really is something else. That vocal depth is all the more evident on this tour because, whilst in the past she has toured with a full band, tonight it’s just her and the Fireside Disciples. The Fireside Disciples is made up of her dad Bill Chambers, an  accomplished musician as well as the butt of most of her onstage jokes, and the Neil Young looking kid who turns out to be Brandon Dodd. Dodd, by the way, is one hell of a guitarist and between the three of them they rotate acoustic six strings, dobros, ukulele, banjos and a (I think) mandolin.   

As is always the case with Kasey, she makes plenty of time in between songs for storytelling and embellishing the folklore. This is aided by lovingly narrated childhood photos projected on a screen behind her. One of the effects of this, especially for her long time fans, is that the audience feel like they know her intimately. They tell her they love her. A lot. Multiple people multiple times yell out to tell her they love her, and she of course is humbled and tells them she loves them too.

Her and the band play songs from the new record Campfire as well as stuff dating back to The Captain and all the way in between. This being her 12^th studio record there is a wealth of material there to choose from and both new and old stuff is well received.

Special guests for Kasey on this tour were California country duo Easy Leaves. Their sound owes a lot to the Bakersfield artists like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard and they acknowledged as much. They bantered back and forth in pretty good natured exchanges with the audiences and each other and the acoustic picker and upright bass combo gave their beautifully harmonised vocals a chance to shine.

At the end of the set, after Kasey did a few numbers on her own, both the Fireside Disciples and the Easy Leaves joined her on stage for a rousing rendition of We’re All Gonna Die Someday and the crowd sang along for the choruses.

Not a bad way to while away a couple of hours.

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The full list of tour dates and ticketing information is below.

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KASEY CHAMBERS

CAMPFIRE TOUR

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Thursday 28 JUNE – THE EVENT CENTRE – CALOUNDRA QLD

Friday 29 JUNE – TWIN TOWNS – TWEED HEADS NSW

Sunday 1 JULY – BRISBANE POWERHOUSE – BRISBANE QLD

Thursday 5 JULY – THE DESERT CAVE – COOBER PEDY SA

Saturday 7 JULY – ARALUEN ARTS CENTRE – ALICE SPRINGS NT

Wednesday 11 JULY – FRANKSTON ARTS CENTRE – FRANKSTON VIC

Thursday 12 JULY – BURRINJA THEATRE – UPWEY VIC

Friday 13 JULY – THE PALMS AT CROWN – MELBOURNE VIC

Saturday 14 JULY – THE PLAYHOUSE GPAC – GEELONG VIC

Thursday 19 JULY – ALBURY THEATRE – ALBURY VIC

Saturday 21 JULY – DUBBO RSL – DUBBO NSW

Thursday 2 AUGUST – NORTHERN FESTIVAL THEATRE – PORT PIRIE SA

Friday 3 AUGUST – THEBARTON THEATRE – ADELAIDE SA

Saturday 4 AUGUST – SIR ROBERT HELPMANN THEATRE – MT GAMBIER SA

Sunday 5 AUGUST – LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE – WARRNAMBOOL VIC

Thursday 9 AUGUST – TANKS – CAIRNS QLD

Wednesday 15 AUGUST – WEST GIPPSLAND ARTS CENTRE – WARRIGAL VIC

Friday 17 AUGUST – REGENT THEATRE – YARRAM VIC

Saturday 18 AUGUST – WONTHAGGI ARTS CENTRE – WONTHAGGI VIC

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TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW

For further information please head HERE

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