After a brief power surge, which forced people outside of The Metro Theatre for fifteen minutes and support slots from local musicians Kid Sam and Old Man River – Daniel Johnston causally took the stage. Donning an all-Australian t-shirt and akubra and bursting straight into classic “Hi, How Are You” his presence on stage is warmly welcomed by howling patrons and dedicated fans.

At first it’s immediately clear that he isn’t renowned for his sloppy guitar work – but heck, it has always worked in his favour. Because at the end of the day it’s that distinctive voice, melody and deeply personal song writing style that really drew this crowd. Not to mention his enigmatic and bizarre mannerisms that have been well documented throughout his musical history. Johnston has the remarkable ability to write all his songs using virtually all the same chords – and there are literally hundreds of them with each one sounding fresher than the last. Midway through his opening acoustic set Johnston tells the crowd a joke about a dream he had where he was sentenced to death for wanting to commit suicide. The crowd responds well with a generous laugh but given the unstable mental history of the songwriter there is a sad silence of sympathy that follows. However, judging by his light-hearted and friendly banter between songs – It looks like old Danny boy is on the mend from his darker days of childhood depression.

After a couple more songs Johnston introduces another guitarist and this enables his voice to really soar without focusing on his guitar work. It seems that his voice has gotten better over the years and at moments it is reminiscent of “After The Goldrush” era Neil Young. But possibly better. Johnston just rips into one should-be classic after another, selecting songs from his vast discography including albums like “Songs of Pain”, “Hi, How Are You?” “Yip Jump Music”, “Fun” and right up to the latest studio release. The crowd loves it and they show their appreciation by applauding like a horde of wild animals after every song. He even manages to sneak in at least four John Lennon covers while he’s at it.

Following a short intermission before introducing a full band featuring members of “Old Man River” – the audience realises that if Johnston had a backing band at the beginning of his career he could have been bigger than the Beatles. But in the eyes and ears of this crowd he is and always has been. It didn’t matter if he was playing on stage as an intimate solo entity or with the full band – no one could deny that Daniel Johnston is one of the world’s greatest songwriters. No matter how the song was presented or how many musicians participated. And although he would leave the stage following an encore to presumably his mountain drew and comic books. Everyone who was lucky enough to attend left with the feeling that they had just witnessed something special.