Kaki King (supported by The Little Stevies)
Corner Hotel, Richmond
Thursday 30 May 2013
Image courtesy of freetoeknee Photography
To those of you unfamiliar with Kaki King I shall try and paint a picture of this feminine guitar virtuoso. In 2006 Rolling Stone released a list of “The New Guitar Gods” in which King was the youngest person to be mentioned at twenty-six, and also the only woman. King’s list of accomplishments include working with Eddie Vedder, Timbaland and Dave Grohl, as well as helping to score movies like August Rush and The Twilight Saga. Known for her unique finger style guitar techniques and ridiculously complex songs, I had a minor fangasm when I heard she was going to play an intimate gig at the Corner Hotel in Richmond.
I first saw her play a couple of years back at the Queenscliff Music Festival, hearing the words “female guitar god” was enough to tickle my fancy and head over to the stage she was playing, and thus started my obsession. As I walked into the Corner I was greeted by the sweet two piece vocal harmonies and cooing acoustic guitar work of the opening band, The Little Stevies. A local Melbourne band consisting of two sisters and a friend (who was absent for some reason), their brand of acoustic pop/folk was a delightful start to the evening as we got settled in. Casually telling the crowd stories and laughing at jokes, the duo were obviously glad to be playing to such an attentive crowd in their home town, and opening for such an amazing guitar player.
As The Little Stevies’ time in the spotlight came to an end, the crowd’s attention was drawn to the peculiar set up on stage consisting of a solitary foldout chair and microphone surrounded by half a dozen guitars of various shapes and sizes. At around ten o’clock Kaki walked out to meet her adoring crowd, and started the night by imposing the following rule: if you are tall, you have to give way to any smaller audience members who want a better view. Barely reaching five foot tall, you can tell that this rule has come from King’s personal experience at gigs. So as the crowd rearranged itself in order of height, King kicked off the set with ‘Great Round Burn’ from her latest album Glow (2012), and immediately the crown turned into a pack of zombies completely transfixed on the fingers of this otherworldly guitarist. This trance extended into the next song ‘Bone Chaos in the Castle’, her signature song, which boggles the mind of even the most accomplished fret-board master (see the video of her playing it live below).
I first saw her play a couple of years back at the Queenscliff Music Festival, hearing the words “female guitar god” was enough to tickle my fancy and head over to the stage she was playing, and thus started my obsession. As I walked into the Corner I was greeted by the sweet two piece vocal harmonies and cooing acoustic guitar work of the opening band, The Little Stevies. A local Melbourne band consisting of two sisters and a friend (who was absent for some reason), their brand of acoustic pop/folk was a delightful start to the evening as we got settled in. Casually telling the crowd stories and laughing at jokes, the duo were obviously glad to be playing to such an attentive crowd in their home town, and opening for such an amazing guitar player.
As The Little Stevies’ time in the spotlight came to an end, the crowd’s attention was drawn to the peculiar set up on stage consisting of a solitary foldout chair and microphone surrounded by half a dozen guitars of various shapes and sizes. At around ten o’clock Kaki walked out to meet her adoring crowd, and started the night by imposing the following rule: if you are tall, you have to give way to any smaller audience members who want a better view. Barely reaching five foot tall, you can tell that this rule has come from King’s personal experience at gigs. So as the crowd rearranged itself in order of height, King kicked off the set with ‘Great Round Burn’ from her latest album Glow (2012), and immediately the crown turned into a pack of zombies completely transfixed on the fingers of this otherworldly guitarist. This trance extended into the next song ‘Bone Chaos in the Castle’, her signature song, which boggles the mind of even the most accomplished fret-board master (see the video of her playing it live below).
Image courtesy of freetoeknee Photography
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After showcasing a few more songs from her new album, Kaki started up some banter with the crowd, and seemingly nothing was taboo as she wandered around topics like her gay marriage, previous partners and family disputes. After claiming that the next song was her “ode to refrigeration” she burst into ‘Kelvinator Kelvinator’, followed by ‘Streetlight in the Egg’, after which she instructed the crowd not to pay too much attention to the song titles as they meant “shit all”. After these energetic performances Kaki took it down a notch as she played ‘Doing the Wrong Thing’ and ‘Jessica’, a love song written about her camp councilor when she was sixteen. She then proceeded to explain that her current partner is also called Jessica, as well as another ex-girlfriend of hers, which creates more than a little confusion in my mind in terms of chronology.
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The thing I was enjoying the most at this point was Kaki’s ease with the crowd. One can imagine that having the attention of a sizeable group of people focused entirely on you is quite daunting, yet she flows through her set amidst a swirl of jokes, anecdotes and one crowd member who suffered a fainting spell. Being a guitar goddess, Kaki also experiments with cutting edge guitar technology, busting out quirky axes such as a seven stringed guitar with fanned frets, and my favourite, an acoustic guitar with a built in Moog synthesizer. It was great that Kaki could acknowledge her guitar nut fanbase, and talked about each of her guitars in detail as all the long haired males of the crowd drooled over them.
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Finishing off her set with the brutally emotional ‘Sunnyside’ followed by ‘Playing With Pink Noise’, I walked out of the gig feeling I’d experienced intimacy with the artist, which you only get when they really try to connect with you. I’ll welcome Kaki back to our shores like an old friend when she comes back.
Patrick McKaskill |
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