It seems a curiously long time ago that “London Still” peaked at number 3 in the 2002 triple j Hottest 100. Not least because it’s so hard to imagine a song of similar sound getting anywhere near the top 10 these days, but also because The Waifs still feel so familiar – an integral part of the Australian music scene that have just quietly gone about making music for an extremely dedicated fan base.
In that time, they’ve scattered over the globe: Vicki Thorn to an isolated farming town in Utah, Donna Simpson has only just recently returned to Australia after years in Minneapolis and Josh Cunningham splits his time between California and home. Their compositions now don’t dwell on youthful ideas of what could be, but in the simple power of endurance.
Mia Dyson, who also has hovered on the Australian music scene for a decade now, is solo on stage tonight – cranking liquidy chords from her guitar while she floats through “Tell Me”, and the Lucinda Williams ode “Cigarettes”. When she rolls through the sparse “Struck Down By The Open Road”, her croaking voice pierces through the stunned silence of the gathering crowd.
As if to reiterate how much material they have to go through, The Waifs duck from the bright and new “Blindly Believing” to the familiar ring of “London Still”. Thorn and Simpson’s harmonies take a second to lock into place at first, but once they’re there they remain for the entire show, ghosting closely behind, adding power and shade. Cunningham’s own vocals take a powerful step forward on “Dark Highway”. The loudest response comes for the oldies of course: “Lighthouse” is drowned out by screams before Thorn wafts smoky tendrils of harmonica over the crowd; “Temptation” is a slow and scorching blues, “Salt Dirt Water” thrums with a double bass. Beautiful You cut “Black Dirt Track” is gorgeous in its simplicity, Thorn and Simpsons’ harmonies carving their way through the swooping hook.
As a band, they look infinitely comfortable on stage, even slight blips and errors are taken with a wry smile at the crowd before pushing through – such is the way with a band that has played hundreds upon hundreds of shows. “Fishermans Daughter” comes with harsh curls of harmonica, before “Bridal Train” appears in the encore. One encore was clearly not enough though, for the crowd remained long after the house lights came up, prompting another appearance for the steady and uplifting “Gillian”.
If there was a better three hours of music in Australia last night…well actually, there probably wasn’t.
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