Perry Keyes - Sydney - 5 January 2025

Описание: Perry’s performances with a full band are so infrequent that I’m always reluctant to miss one because I don’t know how long I might have to wait until the next one. And this particular show had two other big pluses for me; there’d be no noisy wining and dining throughout, and Johnny Barker’s imagery would be forming the backdrop. I’ve admired Johnny’s art work (posters and videos) for Perry for a long time now and was looking forward to finally seeing them both together live.

The show was called ‘Black & White Town’, the name of Perry’s most recent album, but it wasn’t so much about that one particular album as about Perry’s extensive body of work capturing the highs and lows of life in the Sydney suburbs of Redfern, Waterloo and surrounds. As such it could have been several hours in length, but because there were two performances that day, it was limited to just 15 songs. This recording was made at the 4pm show - six songs, some of which I haven’t captured before:

Girl in the Crystal Cylinder Hoodie (00:22)
Beer and Cigarettes (04:25)
Sandra’s on the Way (09:04)
Will You Shine? (16:27)
Billy Boy (20:28)
The Last Ghost Train Home (24:19)

Wonderful songs and storytelling, a terrific band, video that added to the mood without distracting from the music, an intimate venue and a totally silent audience - I couldn’t have wished for more. Thank you Perry, Sydney Festival and everyone else involved.