Dustin Tebbutt @ Jack Rabbit Slims, Perth - 26/08/2016

Friday night I headed over to Northbridge in Perth to see Dustin Tebbutt. I have never seen Jack Rabbit Slims so packed. There was no doubt this was a sold out gig and the overflow of people near the pinball machines were watching the gig on the venues TV. 

From the moment Dustin and his band came onto the stage they had the venues attention. He is extremely humble and was blown away by the turnout. Thanking us immediately for coming and speaking to us throughout the length of the show. He spoke about the inspiration behind some of the tracks and also asked the people in the back to stop talking which we were all pretty happy about!

It was a beautiful gig based around his latest album ‘First Light’. A big banner of the album artwork was draped as the backdrop behind the stage and it was complimented with an orange and blue light show. 

The music from his new album is different to his older tracks. It had more progression throughout the whole set, taking us on a layered journey with different guitars and keys. His older stuff is a lot more breathy/folky, so when he played popular track ‘The Breach’ it was awesome to see how much this track has grown with the rest of his music.

‘Give me Tonight’ had everyone captivated and moving about, the use of the sample desk for this song made it so enjoyable to watch and the vocals throughout the whole gig were flawless. The deep lyrics on this album are complimented so well with the melodies Dustin created with his magical tones.

He has an extremely talented band behind him, the incredible backing vocals provided the perfect harmony and balance, Dustin and himself had a few different guitars, kept swapping between them all night. Another lead guitar was playing behind a stack of synths and the drummer was seated behind a neat kit. They also had guest artist Woodes come and sing female vocals for a track, I was blown away by her performance, she had a beautiful soft tone in her voice that went perfectly with Dustin’s.

This was an excellent show. I have been dying to see Dustin Tebbutt live and couldn't of been happier with the performance!

Reviewer - Keeley Connolly

Photography - @picsbyberns