Matt Corby // Live

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

Hello friends. Boy do I have a blog post for you. Albeit, incredibly, incredibly overdue, but exciting nonetheless.

On the 12th of April, I finally got to see Matt Corby live. If you’ve been here for a little while, you know that I could go on, and on and on about Matt Corby and the insane amount of talent in that one person.

Due to the absolute shambles that was Melbourne public transport during the weeks before and around the day of the concert, my friend James and I met on the train, which took us a few stations forward, before boarding a replacement bus for about 40 minutes into the city.

Once we were there, we scouted a place for dinner, settling on The Duke, a popular restaurant, rooftop wine bar and pub opposite Federation Square, and spent the forty-five minutes before the concert talking and preparing for the man himself.

Following dinner, we made our way to Margaret Court Arena, only a fifteen minute walk from The Duke, and with a quick pit stop at the arena bar, were down in the mosh pit a few minutes later.

Matt’s set was electrifying, though at the same time it was one of the most serene performances I’ve ever seen. Whether that’s down to the nature of his songs and how authentically raw they all come across, or the overall presence he has while on stage, I don’t know, all I do know is that I spent majority of the concert just standing there staring at him in total awe, with James periodically checking in with my to see if I was okay.

I wasn’t.

He played some of the fan favourites quite early, like one of his recent releases No Ordinary Life, All Fired Up, Sooth Lady Wine and Brother, and I was pleasantly shocked and surprised when he played Monday one of my absolute favourite songs from Corby.

One thing that struck was, despite how packed the mosh pit was, it wasn’t a rough, pushy crowd of people. Everyone was content with listening to his voice, the amazing band and backing vocals he had behind him, and catching a glimpse of him every now and then when you opened your eyes.

He moved around the stage pretty unassumingly. He was the epitome of humility, and I think that only really served to draw us all in even more.

Empires Attraction, Resolution and Souls A’Fire were the perfect songs to ‘wrap up’ the show, and it really kept the energy levels on a steady incline throughout the entire set.

The final encore song was a tune everyone had been holding out for, one of his most popular songs from his latest album, Miracle Love.

The song was so atmospheric and Matt controlled the audience like a conductor in an orchestra pit. There was a moment where he instructed all of us on what to sing, a percussive yet hauntingly beautiful line, ‘bring back that miracle love‘ and he ad-libbed over us.

There’s something incredibly guttural yet at the same time gentle and hypnotic about his voice. He has this great ability to switch between being really tender and soft but then completely ramp up to sing with all his power behind it. It’s one of my favourite things about Matt, and the songs he writes partner with his voice perfectly.

It was a really great concert. I have to be unbiased and admit that Matt isn’t entirely in my top five artists, or maybe even my top ten, but I knew passing up the opportunity to see him live was probably one I’d grow to regret, and I’m so glad I go to see him.

If you ever get the chance to see him live, I highly recommend you do so. It’s an amazing mixture of complete humility partnered with an insane amount of talent that makes it a show worth watching.

x

Priya

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