Her deft piano-playing touch soon followed on “Where I Stood,” the hit single with its video currently in rotation on VH1. Coming only 40 minutes into the show, it allowed plenty of time for the concert to build toward a climax as she utilized her big voice on “Warm Whispers” and the sing-along/clap-along “Peachy.”
The Wonder from Down Under, wearing a print dress over dark jeans, along with comfy deck shoes, aimed to please on a number of levels.
She displayed her family values, saying this was a special occasion that “feels like home,” since her “two aunties” were in the crowd. Granting a special request received over dinner, Higgins performed “Forgive Me,” one of two songs not on the set list (right).
The eco-friendly musician, whose tour is sponsored by Clif GreenNotes mentioned her “big, disgusting, yellow tour bus” runs on carbon-reducing biodiesel.
And there was the adept storyteller, taking time to introduce several of her songs with whimsical tales that kept the crowd entertained and enraptured:
• “Angela” was inspired by a still photo of Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh from Gone With The Wind. Though Higgins admitted she had never seen the movie, she said the photo revealed the characters knew “(Scarlett O'Hara) was the one wearing the pants” in that relationship.
• Her cover of Roxy Music’s “More Than This,” will be on a 2009 companion compilation CD to Revolutions In Sound, which celebrates Warner Bros. Records’ 50th anniversary (“Is it the 50th or 30th?” Higgins wondered out loud). “That ’80s song has some really cheesy synth in it,” she said. “We’ve gone through so many versions. We’ve tried everything. Funk, rock, disco. We finally decided to play it like we play all my other songs.”
• Before jumping into “Scar,” where a very animated Higgins was at her finger-snapping best on the piano, she played a few notes from the first song she ever wrote, when she was in Grade 5, about a pig stolen by one of the convicts that had been exported to Australia. “Luckily, I’ve progressed slightly since then.”
• “Run So Fast,” a ballad on which she was accompanied by Edgar’s slide guitar, was written for an upcoming movie The Post Grad Survival Guide, but apparently didn’t make the cut, leading Higgins to discuss her first opportunity to write a song for a film, Shrek 2. She even granted a request to play a line from the tune with “the cheesiest lyrics you could imagine,” sweetly singing “this is a fairy-tale love.”
Article comments
1 - carmen
Another great review. I enjoyed this concert. It was nice to see the spellbound audience enjoying it also. Finally a concert where people are not talking but actually enjoying the music.