The rebirth of Eddie K

Alright so I know this review is a bit late but I have been preoccupied fulfilling my duties as MOH (maid of honour) for my sister’s wedding.

Sunday 31^st October saw three of us head to the Enmore theatre to see the former front man of Live, Edward Kowalczyk perform – launching his debut solo album Alive.

Last year a couple of us saw him play acoustically and he was amazing – Ed’s voice was still just as impressive as it was when he was singing in his Live days. So our expectations going to this concert were high!

The support band was good (more like guy) – he had some slow sounds (which we weren’t quite expecting considering the type of music Ed plays). I actually never caught the name of the support act, I tried looking it up afterwards but was unsuccessful. What I can tell you is that the guy has his first single out at the moment (6.5 minutes in length, so he’s not expecting any air play!), and has an album due out next year. The lyrics were captivating and he had the audience completely drawn in.

As the time drew near for Ed to get on the stage, the sounds of Ave Maria came through the speakers while the dark stage waited for his presence. We were quite taken back by this entrance which went on for a tad too long. However once Ed was on stage (a little after 9pm) and got settled in, all was forgiven.

Early on during the night he played a number of his old tunes such as All Over You and then mixed it up with some of his new stuff. Part way through the evening The Dolphin’s Cry made an appearance much to the delight of the audience.

He then went on to sing Heaven from one of Live's later albums, Birds of Pray – he dedicated this song (as always) to his two little girls aged 6 and 8 years.
He then finished his main set with the classic I Alone and then Overcome (at least this time there were no US Fire fighters in the audience who were on the ground in New York after September 11, so there was no tribute to them by the Aussie audience chanting U-S-A, U-S-A)

His final songs (around 10.30) included Lightening Crashes (he remembered the words this time round!) and his first single, Grace from his solo album.

All in all a very entertaining evening. Our high expectations were met. If Ed were to come out and play in Australia, would I go see him again? Definitely yes!