There’s something quite understated about Will Oldman, aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy‘s, eccentric talent, and a packed out Sydney Opera House got the opportunity to experience this first hand on Monday night with a spellbinding show with his backing band The Cairo Gang.
Complete with beautiful three part harmonies, the vocals of Angel Olsen, guitars and the drums of Van Campbell, The Cairo Gang proved a perfect accompaniment to Bonnie’s sound and lyrical splendour, bringing it all together in a way that proves they not only perform well together (and know how to do it), but that they truly enjoy performing together, too.
Reasonably unfamiliar with Bonnie beyond a few tracks, the first thing I thought of when I heard him tonight was that he was the performer I was always Kurt Wagner would be (take with that what you will). With fancy footwork and a 19 song set ahead of him, Bonnie launched the set seemingly slightly off key, but his vocals quickly warmed up and a few “thank you for coming” shout outs went a long way as well.
The set that followed included “Pushkin”, the stunningly beautiful “With Cornstalks or Among Them”, which won us all over, “No Match”, the amazing “New Whaling” (featuring the recurring theme of living like a King), “Troublesome Houses” featuring Will on the tambourine, the guitarless “The Sounds Are Always Begging”, “Teach Me To Bear You”, “Night Noises”, “Quail & Dumplings”, “New Partner”, “Ohio River Boat Song”, “So Everyone” and more…
After Will explored and enjoyed the unique acoustics of the Opera House during his three song encore, the night ended without any electric amplification. Just Will’s voice, some backing guitar and beautiful harmonies. A stunning end to a set which showcased Will and his fellow musicians as one phenomenal band, and Will as a stand out lyricist – oh and with a small amount of entertaining banter to boot: “I know you just came to laugh at us with your booming economy”…
