A blustery and drizzly Sunday night saw a modest contingent of music lovers head to The Bird for a night of intimate acoustic balladry on the final night of the WA leg of Mike Noga’s Balladeer Hunter tour. The Bird is a venue perfectly suited to these kinds of nights; it’s full of warmth and charm with a great atmosphere and vibe to match; the perfect place to while away an otherwise damp and dreary Sunday night.

Cameron Avery was up first, normally used to playing in his band The Growl, he seemed no less confident taking the stage solo with only an acoustic guitar and a glass of wine for company. What followed was a set that was a pleasant mixture of Growl originals and some quirky and beautiful covers. Opening with a Tom Waits song you were immediately made aware of the sheer quality of Avery’s vocals. His vocal has this wonderful soulful element which provided perfect accompaniment to the sparseness of the acoustic accompaniment. On stage Avery cuts an interesting figure, charismatic and irreverent. His solo renditions of the few Growl songs he played have certainly made me to investigate the band further, whilst his interpretations of other songs such as Hoagie Carmichael’s ‘The Nearness of You’ were a pleasure to hear. And it’s not every day you hear someone introduce their next song as ‘Here’s the song of the Top Gun soundtrack’. 80’s cheese never sounded so good.

Many of you no doubt will be more familiar with Mike Noga in his other role as drummer in The Drones. Somehow I was blissfully unaware of this duplicity other than from reading a small amount of promotional material earlier in the week. Despite having recorded his latest album The Balladeer Hunter with a full band, he was in solo troubadour mode tonight. As to be expected much of what he played came from his newest album, but there were a few other little gems chucked into the mix, from a Nick Lowe song (14 Days) dedicated to Avery, as well as some of Noga’s own earlier work, like he said contrary to popular belief this wasn’t his first album. Dressed in a tweedy looking jacket Noga seemed confident enough on stage, bantering with the audience. For the most part Noga was happy for his songs to do all the talking and the audience were incredibly attentive – at times you could have heard a pin drop, or a cocktail shaker rattle.

Overall it was a fantastic night of music, with two brilliant performers making the most of an attentive crowd. Whilst there may not have been huge swathes of people there, those that were treated to a stellar performance, and it was nice to be able to relax and listen to great music without having to jostle for space constantly, and instead just concentrate on the music. A great night of great music, here’s to more nights like that.