Concert Review: Matt Corby – Civic Theatre April 18, 2019

Australian musician Matt Corby returned to Auckland intent on thrilling his audience with songs from his new album, Rainbow Valley.

And thrilled they were.

The mostly young, mostly female members of the crowd at the Civic were very vocal in their appreciation of Mr Corby and his talents, screaming and shouting out “I love yous” between songs for the duration of the 90 minute show.

As he and his seven-piece band (2 keyboards, 2 female backing vocalists, drums, bass & guitar) began the set with a string of tunes from Rainbow Valley, I couldn’t help but wonder what all the fuss was about.

Yes, Corby has a good voice, but his quasi-soulful vocals left me cold and his stage presence is virtually non-existent. I understand that he is a somewhat shy person, but staring down at your instrument , or the stage, rather than making any eye contact with the audience puts a tremendous distance between the listener ad the performer.

It’s one I never got over.

But then I heard a woman yell out, “Take your shirt off!” just before Get With The Times, and I understood what the attraction was.

Corby performed just about all of Rainbow Valley, save How It Ends and a handful from his breakthrough debut album, 2016’s Telluric, but tellingly, it was the two covers that stood out.

The first was Roy Ayers’ Everybody Loves The Sunshine, a song that served as inspiration for the new album. The energy generated from the performance of that song made it stand out from all the others.

Three songs later and I was hearing a lyric that sounded very familiar to me. It was Neil Young’s Old Man, but sung in a semi-gospel style with a piano backing. I appreciate that Corby tried to do something different with the song, but honestly, it just didn’t work.

After that, the multi-instrumentalist (he played keyboards, drums and guitar) took up his flute and revisited his 2013 single, Resolution.

The final song of the set, Souls A’Fire, became a showcase for Corby’s guitar skills, which are formidable.

For the encore, Matt invited everyone to stand…many already were…and closed out the evening with a crowd-pleasing Miracle Love.

The crowd may have been pleased, but I wasn’t. Quoting Paul McCartney, “Plastic soul, man, plastic soul”.

Marty Duda

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Veronica McLaughlin:

Matt Corby set list:

1. Light My Dart Up
2. No Ordinary Life
3. All That I See
4. New Day Coming
5. Get With The Times
6. All Fired Up
7. Sooth Lady Wine
8. Brother
9. Monday
10. Rainbow Valley
11. Everybody Loves The Sunshine
12. Better
13. Elements
14. Old Man
15. Empires Attraction
16. Resolution
17. Souls A’Fire
18. Miracle Love