Friday Night in Adelaide and it almost feels that Covid is a thing of the past. The traffic flow into the city is slow and it seems like everyone is in town for the Fringe. Tonight, Gordi (real name: Sophie Payten) is playing at the Wonderland Spiegeltent, this year located in Hindmarsh Square. I am not a fan of concerts that start before sundown but luckily the venue is enclosed well enough to simulate darkness and Gordi states it is like a casino it is so dark. The atmosphere is incredible and the attentive audience was engaged throughout. You could hear a pin drop, which was a stark contrast from her last solo gig in Adelaide at the dearly departed Ed Castle
Gordi comes on stage at exactly 5 pm and from the opening song Looks Like You from her excellent second album Our Two Skins she has the audience enthralled. Gordi released her second album in June last year but understandably has only just started her album release shows. Gordi played Hate the World from her latest album. She wrote the song in Nashville in less than twenty minutes after being emotionally affected after seeing Hannah Gadsby perform Nanette in New York City.
Through the use of her keyboard, harmonium, and using a vocoder she is able to mimic a full band sound. Her piano progression on the track Volcanic is brilliant and unlike the album, this version ends with the cathartic discordant distorted scream of Am I starving you out?
We had a special guest for the concert when Alex Lahey joined Gordi on stage to sing the song Dino’s that they released together this month. I was shocked to see Alex because as far as I knew she had no gigs in Adelaide herself this weekend. Extraordinary Life was played and this is a beautiful love song. Gordi then left her keyboards and picked up her guitar to give us the absolutely sensitive cover of Paul Kelly’s When I First Met Your Ma.
She played Heaven I Know and the upbeat On My Side from her first album. Alex Lahey came out to play the harmonium for the last song Sandwiches, a fragile and hauntingly beautiful song about her late grandmother. A magnificent end to the concert. Let’s hope she comes back soon to perform an extended set so we can hear more songs from her excellent second album.