ADELAIDE FRINGE REVIEW

GRACE: the music of Jeff Buckley

Louis Donnarumma

The Grace Emily Hotel, Adelaide

Give up your day job and take this show on tour.

It was a double portion of Grace- Louis Donnarumma and friends’ Adelaide Fringe tribute to Jeff Buckley’s musical legacy at the Grace Emily Hotel. Buckley’s unique songwriting and musicality like no other – performed in a venue like no other (the GEH is like a shrine to the local music scene).

Add to these two unique features, the singular talent of nineteen year old Mr Donnarumma, and you have something special. I don’t normally go in for tribute artists, but this was different. Grace, Last Goodbye, So Real, the unsurpassable Lover You Should Have Come Over and other highlights of Buckley’s too short repertoire all sounded fresh, energetic and real. Starting with a solo version of Chocolate segueing into Mojo Pin, Louis was not afraid to expose his voice and guitar to the scrutiny of hardcore Buckleyites, or to the intimacy of Leonard Cohen’s classic Hallelujah, and solo previews from the soon to be released Buckley covers album.  His backing band (Anthony Costanzo, Glenn Charles, Tyler Venter) also nailed their parts convincingly, sounding particularly crisp and tight on Everybody Here Wants You, matching the frenzy of Mojo Pin and exuberantly scaling the dynamics of these most complex of songs.

My verdict? Louis, give up your day job and take this show on an international tour.

Also for the Daily Post photo challenge Harmony.