Crowds in Melbourne can be a fickle thing. When going to see live bands of the softer denomination the musicians can often be drowned out by the sound of the paying punters who loudly and rudely converse for the duration of their set, which arguably defeats the purpose of going to see the band in the first place. Saturday night at the Northcote was pleasantly surprising in this regard as the sold out crowd looked on in enraptured silence as Brisbane’s young chanteuse Emma Louise quietly but confidently began to play.
Her set was a thrillling thing to witness as Emma charmed the audience with her clumsy banter between songs and then wowed them with the power of her earnest vocal delivery. Her naive presence and gentle demeanour added to the honesty of her performance as she treated us to some new material mixed in with clear fan favourites “Bugs” and “Jungle”. Her band play well together and compliment each other perfectly, with the spot light firmly on Miss Louise who seemed genuinely delighted and slightly intimidated to be playing in front of such a big, silent crowd.
The night ended with a moving rendition of “1000 Sundowns” before Emma thanked us all for coming and walked offstage to a thunderous round of applause. It was an absolute pleasure to see one of Australia’s freshest talents play a breathtakingly beautiful set in such an intimate setting. Rest assured next time Emma Louise comes to town she’ll be playing a much bigger venue as someone with her level of talent and passionate artistry rightly deserves.
