Lior With Paul Grabowsky: A Very Special Evening Of Musical Entertainment ~ Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2019 Review

[ADELAIDE PREMIERE ~ AUS ~ IF YOU LOVE… MUSIC THAT MOVES YOU] Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre, Fri 7 Jun. On stage a grand piano and an acoustic guitar. Paul Grabowsky enters and jokes that he is tired of being a mere accompanist and tonight will be singing all the songs himself! He relents, walks to the piano, and plays an entrancing piece entitled October. Lior then enters and together they begin an intimate, moving and captivating re-imagination of many of his classic and some lesser known material. Despite the guitar being onstage it remains untouched for most of the program. He explains that when he and Paul began performing together he expected the shows to be a ‘conversation ‘ between piano and guitar, but he quickly realised that Paul was no mere accompanist, that he added so much colour of his own to the songs that nothing more was required. Lior’s hugely successful first album Autumn Flow is touched on only briefly at first with Daniel and Bedouin Song. He introduces each song he plays with a brief story, such as being put on hold when making a flight booking with Virgin, only to find that the background music was his own Heal Me, from his second album. Out In The Country tells of him needing to escape the city to be able to write, and narrowly avoiding the temptation to surrender his hectic lifestyle to the idyllic peace and quiet. Grabowsky’s contribution is to show Lior’s songs in a new light. The song Autumn Flow is presented in a Randy Newman-style arrangement. And a song that Lior has not been able to record yet to his satisfaction, Good On Our Own, is given a boost with an enthusiastic pop rendition. The guitar is picked up for My Grandfather, which Lior explains was first played nervously in Adelaide and it was the positive reaction he received that gave him the confidence to keep playing it. He then completes the set with Grey Ocean and his ‘most popular’ song This Old Love and is called back to encore with an evocative Safety Of Distance. Lior’s spectacularly impressive voice and remarkably skilful songwriting talents are on full display tonight. Add to that the magic of maestro Paul Grabowsky and the result is a very special evening of musical entertainment. 5 stars Adrian Miller Click HERE to read The Clothesline’s interview with Lior. FB: @adelaidecabaretfestival TW: @AdelaideCabaret IG: @adelaidecabaret #adcabfest Image courtesy of Simon Shiff