Vera Blue and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Area, March 28
★★★★½
Underneath an excellent blue sky it was onerous to think about the parallel universe if electro-pop songstress Vera Blue (Celia Pavey) had carried out final weekend, as initially scheduled, on what would have been storm-sodden floor and shin-high water.
Swanning out in a magenta robe with Euphoria-style diamanté-studded eyes, Pavey regarded very similar to a celestial fairy in a sunlit backyard for her closing efficiency of the Summer time within the Area live performance collection.
Behind her, the 22-strong Sydney Symphony Orchestra have been able to accompany a reimagined set of her songs.
Pavey may need taken the bodily centre-stage however the devices have been no much less key characters within the cinematic-score-like efficiency she and the orchestra delivered collectively.
They started with a brand new monitor, Every thing Is Great, which swelled and arced on a mattress of violins. The melodrama was amped up whereas Pavey’s digital influences took a again seat, her stellar voice getting the prospect to shine with out the poppy beats and reverb that often body it.
The highly effective, tongue-in-cheek Woman Powers was punchy and jazzy, whereas love tune Maintain was attractive, sounding made for the harp – an instrument Pavey dreamed of enjoying as a toddler.
The classical/pop mash-up between her and the SSO was no gimmick: if something, Pavey’s songs lent themselves naturally to the anticipatory, climbing tempo and sweetly drawn-out melodies that orchestra backing allowed, and conductor Vanessa Scammell led her expenses with grace.
You’d suppose that anybody sharing a stage with the SSO may go away the instrumentals to the specialists however Pavey held her personal on the violin, enjoying in an escalating solo earlier than launching into Fantasy. It was the coda to the story she began earlier than – she could not have mastered the harp however she certain is aware of her manner round a bow.
Two huge hitters made an look within the encore: the restrained vocals and climbing refrain of Mended and an inventively re-arranged Speeding Again, which shrugged off its synth-heavy digital roots (it’s initially a Flume tune on which Pavey featured) to slide right into a silky, swooping, violin-led reimagination. Suffice to say, it was a neat match.