Grace Knight – Starry Knight

Dunstan Playhouse, 12–13 June

As a diehard Eurogliders fan, Grace Knight was high on my list of essential viewing, Cabaret Festival-wise, and the vintage of the audience suggested I was in good company! 

But this versatile singer has attracted a whole new fan-base in the last few years, as a large younger contingent in a well-filled house attested.  And she delivered the goods, beginning with “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” to “Moondance” and all stations in between.

Willie Nelson got more than a passing run, with “Crazy”. Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep For Me” is, for my money, one of the great songs, recounting in just a few minutes a soul-destroying tale of depression, and Knight simply nailed it, as she did “Motherless Child”.

Getting an audience into the palm of your hand is a tricky business: either it works or it doesn’t. With Knight, it worked, and 600 (or should that be 1200) pairs of fingers were clicking away in “Fever” where she exploited her stunning vocal technique to maximum effect.

For all that, the night had its problems. The sound took a long time to settle, and the local strings and brass, famously known as the most reliable pick-up band in Australia, were of unaccountably variable quality, though rumour had it they’d only had a single short rehearsal.

But most strangely, when she wasn’t singing Knight herself seemed disconnected from proceedings, with a rambling, disjointed patter, and a lack of concentration that led to more than a little confusion on-stage, skipped songs and all.  It rather took the gilt off the gingerbread.

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