Gotye- The National Theatre

After work I met up with Tash and Mary in the city and then we drove down to St. Kilda to see Gotye (aka Wally De Backer) play a sold out show at The National Theatre.  Opening the evening was Tash Parker, who played a solo set on both acoustic and electric guitar with the occasional pre-recorded loop thrown in.  She has a great voice and Wally joined her for a couple of songs, including a duet that they wrote together.

Gotye took the stage to large cheers and began his hour long set with the new single "Eyes Wide Open."  For this show Wally had two other musicians accompanying him while he played drums and his sampling keyboard.  Most of the songs during the evening were from the album Like Drawing Blood, including "Coming Back," "Hearts A Mess," and "Thanks For Your Time" which had a brilliant bit in the middle about being on hold to Vodafone.  We got three new songs that sounded fantastic, a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Seems So Long Ago, Nancy" with just Wally on the piano, and "The Only Thing I Know" from his first album Boardface.  Wally finished his set with "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and received a standing ovation from the crowd.  It's good to have Gotye back on the Melbourne music scene and I look forward to the release of his new album (whenever that may be).