Elizabeth November 9th, 2008

Last night Tim and I saw the incredible Lior at The Spiegeltent. The whole thing was pretty much a dream come true, with Lior’s incredible live vocal performance and the spectacular surrounds of the famous travelling venue. I came down with a serious case of goosebumps on more than one occasion last night.

The Spiegeltent was the perfect, intimate venue. There was general seating in the centre of the tent, and wooden booths in a semi-circle around the perimeter. We were silly enough to hang out in the bar before the show, so we missed out on the best seats. The sound and atmosphere didn’t suffer for this, but next time I’ll be more careful to avoid sitting backwards.

I did a quick search on flickr for photos of the tent, since I didn’t take a camera myself. Here are a couple from previous Melbourne seasons.

The Spiegeltent in Melbourne, in 2006. Photo by Trimba.

The interior of the Spiegeltent in daylight. Photo by clogwog.

Following Lior was a cabaret show, which would have been perfect in this venue. They often house circus acts as well as live music, and I imagine it would be very impressive. No seat would be more than 15 metres away from the action – probably less when they bring the stage to the middle of the tent. Can you imagine?

Anyway, one of the other highlights of the show was a shadow puppet screen hanging to the left of the stage. I was only able to see part of the screen from where I sat (honestly, 99% of the seats would have been perfect – I was just unlucky) but had the rare advantage of being able to watch what happened behind the scenes. Most of it was done using an overhead projector and transparencies, and it took four hands to coordinate each scene. The preparation must have been really intense for this aspect of the show, but it was beautifully executed. I got the impression that it was a one-night-only thing.

The finished product looked very much like the film clip for Lior’s I’ll Forget You. The people credited for that clip are not the same names that were mentioned last night, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were all part of the same art direction team.

So special, especially live.

And Lior. Who could have imagined that the purity and richness of his voice could be just as incredible live? Even after an hour on stage he was capable of the sweetest, most delicate notes – and was beautifully supported by an upright bass player and string quartet. There was even one special number where he was backed by a horn section who had ducked out from the opera next door.

I had about five “favourites” last night, but if I had to choose one it would be This Old Love. I’ve literally taken this song everywhere with me for the past few years, and I love it now as much as I did the first time I heard it.

This morning I tracked down a live version from an Australia Day concert in 2006. Enjoy!

• Life , Melbourne , Music
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