Except, this time, he brought with him over an album’s worth of material along with the legend moniker he’s accrued since. Supported by local rising star, Annie Hamilton, the crowd was wooed into a daze by folk bops like ‘California Carpark Concrete’, ‘Panic’ and ‘Dynamite’, primed and ready by the time Chet stepped onto the stage.
Backed by a minimal band and armed with a simple mic, keyboard and guitar, the maestro had the crowd in the palm of his hand from beginning to end. Hypnotic visuals and haze helped further immerse punters into the his decade-spanning discography, as he dipped in and out from his 2021 LP Hotel Surrender to 2014’s Built On Glass and 2012’s Thinking In Textures. He even treated us to some unreleased hits that were super skeletal in their orchestration, but lush and full of feeling in their emotional execution.
You could tell he wanted to make up for lost time up there, playing a mammoth five song encore. By which point, the crowd was totally entranced, everyone bopping to and fro, particularly in response to eternal favourite, ‘Talk Is Cheap’. It was a welcome return for the homegrown hero. Get caught up via the gallery above:
