Dan Sultan

Mother's Day for me, was Lewisham... A six year old... Park Beach, running through the water fully dressed and building sandcastles... Nachos... Linc le Fevre... Sunset... Dan Sultan and Band.

Really, I would have to say it was the perfect Mother's Day. Granted, I was missing one of the children but she was snuggly tucked up in bed, protecting her little 1 year old ears.

So armed with ear plugs for my six year old assistant (something that is not usual for this Music Reviewer – definitely only a Mothers Day exception) we sat down to take in Linc and his live tunes.

As always Linc's live shows are polished and enjoyable whilst retaining a raw, live sound that is so well suited to the Lewi. The sun was streaming in across the water, adding an interesting lighting effect to a lone guy on the stage.

The locals heckled at times, impatiently waiting for Mr Sultan to take the stage. And the crowd was still small at this point, with other mothers no doubt enjoying their children and the socializing and eating and drinking that this one day in May demands.

I loved Linc's set list – It was a lovely combination of Linc's solo songs, Fell to Erin (his band's) Songs and a song or two from Enola Fall, a band he has recently joined to play guitar. My six year old alternated between sitting cross legged or laying in front of the stage, occasionally running over to me whilst I furiously scribbled down the set list at the start of each song to tell me Linc was “awesome...” which for a child who loves music as much as me and is very critical of a lot of the music I like, “awesome” is very complimentary – placing Linc le Fevre up there as amongst his favorites, with current number 1's are Goyte, The Scientists of Modern Music, and Red Rival – we often fight over which tracks to play in my iTunes... listening to music is fought with peril in my house.

As the stage was made from support to main act, I sat outside and watched the sun set whilst small boys ran around and burned up some nachos. I love the Lewi as a venue. Sunday afternoon drives are such a lovely thing to do with your family and to drive only half an hour from the city to catch some beautiful tunes in a setting that is postcard perfect is pure heaven for me. It does get cold there, very cold with the Pub facing the water, but I always come well prepared.

Next was Dan Sultan and band. Really, I know nothing about Dan or his tracks but found his entire set captivating.

By the time Dan was on stage, the room was thick with Mothers – Mothers Day is like some secret society where we all wink and smile at each other – its a day of Thank You's and Dan helped make many a Mum's day perfect by the look of the dancing, smiling women.

At one point, with my son dancing (or head-banging) to Dan another Mother asked if she could take him for a dance, but boys being boys, decided this was the moment to not cooperate and ran from the room suddenly shy. Then, with a little coaxing, he took this Mother for a dance or two in front of the stage.

Dan's music is amazing – I can't usually dance with at least one “relaxing” drink in my system, but his music is full of so much soul, energy, roots and blues and pulsating life that it was easy to dance to his songs with only H2O on board – adopting the lovely saying of “dance like no one is watching”.

Watching the band members use their various instruments of choice made me want to run home and pick up a clarinet or saxophone again – something I haven't touched for many, many years since the end of my school days.

A couple of standout tracks were 'Your Love is Like a Song' from his album Homemade Biscuits and the final track, 'Mothers' Child' his ode to Mother's Day.

And in the words of my assistant, Liam Tope, “it has been the most funnest day ever!”

Make the drive to Lewisham on a Sunday Afternoon, take a friend (or your children!) and enjoy some sounds at The Lewi by the seaside - a perfect way to feed music to your soul.

Share this review on Facebook