cacophony

Seeing your heroes in the flesh doesn’t get any less exciting, even when you’ve seen them many times before. I was fortunate enough to catch the only Melbourne performance of Deborah Conway’s all-female revue Broad on Wednesday at the Athenaeum.

The format is simple: five chicks on chairs with their instruments. Each has an opportunity to sing two or three of their own tunes, with backup from the other women, and some cover songs together. In between, Deborah - half chairwoman, half matron - asks questions of the performers about life, love and music.

Deborah Conway is radiant. This is her brainchild and she is clearly proud of it. The plays fan favourite String of Pearls, new songs and a lullabye she wrote for her three girls.

Ella Hooper seems quieter than at previous gigs with her band Killing Heidi. She sings two songs from her new album, talks about songwriting with her brother and life on the road. She wails, she stamps her foot, she bares her vampire teeth. She says she had a Deborah Conway record when she was a kid.

Kate Miller-Heidke is a virtual unknown in these parts but she has been working in her native Brisbane for at least a couple of years. She is trained in jazz and opera but turned her back on “high art” to write pop songs with quirky turns of phrase. Though she is the youngest and least experienced performer in Broad, she seems to be trying to make up for it by being a show pony. She is clearly talented but of all the women, she comes closest to throwing out the delicate balance of big voices (and egos, no doubt).

Melinda Schneider is a born performer. The daughter of a copper dad and a yodelling mum, she sings youthful country songs. She belts out The Story of my Life and Sometimes it Takes Balls to be a Woman with a grin and a sequined shrug.

Mia Dyson has soul. Her songs often start with the unearthly warble of a slide guitar and the first note from her lips is always a shock, like it’s unbelieveable such a deep, earthly sound could come from such a little girl. She is the daughter of a guitar-maker Jim Dyson and unsurprisingly, her voice and guitar are inseperable. She plays her breakthrough hit Parking Lots. It is still running through my head, 24 hours later.

This was the second Broad tour (the first one featured Sara Storer, among others) so I’m sure it will come around again.

www.broadfestival.com