Comfort Inn North Adelaide
Saturday 4 September 2021
Words – Geoff Jenke
Photos – Geoff Jenke
Life does get in the way, but there comes a time in a musician’s life when, after playing live for many a year, it is time to get some of the songs written out into the general public. Brett is a seasoned Adelaide musician who plays solo, as a duo and is front man for the outstanding band, Eleven Days.
Brett Gray has finally released his debut album with the help of members of the band Eleven Days (and some more folk) and to celebrate the release, Brett played two sold out shows at The Comfort Inn Function Room, North Adelaide. And it was a case of no one had heard these tunes as the CD was only released on the evening. A brave but successful move.
Brett and band could have taken the safe way and played a few tracks off the album, throwing in a few well-known covers to keep the audience on side, but no, they played the album (not in album track order) in its entirety. And he did keep the audience on his side.
Into the Night started proceedings with just Brett on acoustic guitar, singing the first verse before the band kicked in. A solid start and actually one of the highlights of the evening.
Stay followed and for some reason Brett’s voice reminded of a 90’s Adelaide band Stand and their original song Stay with Me. So much so when I got home, I found the Stand CD to see if Brett had been in the band, but no, just similar. Stay is a song that would fit nicely in Ed Sheeran’s live set.
My Country was written a “long time ago when I was 17”, a gentle heartfelt song. One thing that made the concert enjoyable was the easy-going nature of Brett, the stories about the songs and the interaction with the band members, especially with his brother Adam on drums.
Closure, we were told started life as a ballad before the band came along and turned it into a rock song. Fly Away is a ballad and was performed with basically just two acoustic guitars and two prove they were not playing directly as the songs are on the album, So Alone had standout keyboards in the song, where the album version has guitar.
But Brett and band saved the best till last. Two Wrongs was the standout track of the evening with some nice guitar work performed by Chris Papageorgiou. It’s a song that has promise to carry on for a longtime and I would love to hear a 10-minute plus version of this.
A very polished performance by Brett and the band. The songs are well written, well-crafted and well played.
People who are complaining about the lack of live gigs happening around town in these troubled times should dig just a little bit deeper and take some chances. There are some really good shows out there.
This was one of them.
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