Leopard Lady's glowing report on Clare Bowditch & co
- Aug 20, 2008
Leopard Lady has been following the musical adventures of Clare Bowditch for some time now... 2004, on the Gold Coast at a club called Troccaderro's, Ms Bowditch and her Feeding Set played to a room of maybe a dozen listeners including Leopard Lady. Even then, it was clear that there were massive things to come for Clare.Now, in the Australian Winter of 2008, the ARIA award winner is selling out her solo tour and bringing with her a toasty crew of fellow musical friends in Old Man River and a pared down Hot Little Hands.
Hot Little Hands warms up the growing crowd with accoustic-ish versions of their cool pop-rock with Tim Harvey (also of Feeding Set capacity) on guitar and vocals while donning equisite headwear.
Old Man River is such a super- laid back- star! He simply glows with his raw loveliness and sense of humour. His cover of Dan Bern's Marilyn is fantastic! The now almost full house calls out requests for Old Man River's own Italian Hot Hit, La. He also treats his new room full of friends with some fresh tunes.
Ms Bowditch arrives onstage, to an excited and devoted crowd of lovers of all things Bowditch. She wears a kooky combination of textures reflecting the diverse flavours in her sensational songwriting/storytelling. And her intriguing props and array of instruments including a late 1970's Casio and a teapot are well used in entertaining the Zoo full of fans. Clare has a wonderful sense of uninhibited humour.
She also has a true heart for up and coming musos and artists. She has invited different performers throughout her national tour, to join her on stage and add their own touch to her song Your Other Hand. Brisbane's chosen collaborator is Pascalle Burton... well, she happens to be one half of poetry-pop duo, Maiden Speech... Leopard Lady happens to be the other half of said duo! Pascalle adds her unique brand of spoken word poetry to the performance, doing Brisbane proud!
Clare delights with a number of duets, bringing back to the stage her beloved guitarist, Tim Harvey and his gorgeous vocals; a fun rendition of I Got You Babe with Old Man River; and a massive sing along with a stageful of music makers, including Andrew Morris, for From Little Things Big Things Grow.
Clare is doing her rounds with this tour before she heads off to Berlin to take her creative force to the other ends of this small world.
Look out world! Leopard Lady believes Australia has an answer to Joni Mitchell in our Clare Bowditch. And Leopard Lady has the eye and the ear for star quality. Mark this blog!
