The ‘Fly exists for gigs like this – punters armed with bottles of red, various cheeses and old whiskey barrels for the paddock-worn Blundstones to rest upon. Ah, and both kinds of music: country and western.
Maria Wilson had gathered together her friends for the occasion, musicians and audience alike, presenting acoustic soul food and pensive themes “for people without big hair”. If she was refering to the bootscooting women dancing in the darker areas of the floor I think she missed her audience. But hey, everyone was into the show and it’s hard to consider your appeal under the bright lights of the stage.
What Wilson was refering to was the themes of her songs, incest being one of them, that only emerge timidly in ‘popular’ music and everyday conversation. The double bass, brushes, snare and country vibe may have been great stuff to dance to, but Wilson was ultimately unveiling many of the hidden pains of those with or without ‘big hair’. And I think everyone else was reading as much into this as I was, judging by the truely adoring crowd.
With an appropriate interlude (more of this later), Made To Fit mounted the huge stage and savagely careered throughout the rest of the evening between absolutely gorgeous, wisened folk to trite, over-manufactured rock. A hard task, one might think.
Changing the country tone immediately with a rock song, equally shattered with guitar effects resembling the sound of a thousand Casio keyboards, things began to look grim. But as singer Ann Palumbo grabbed her double bass, a bow and another double bass player from the bleachers, the sounds best summed up by the interlude music of My Friend The Chocolate Cake were revisited in resplendent glory. People moving towards the door were possessed to spin around and rejoice freely.
It was like this throughout the whole set, Made To Fit’s indecision on what direction they should take alternately scoring grimaces and smiles as often as songs changed. Though there was no doubting the deft touch of Palumbo on the double bass, her dominating voice and the rest of the band’s skill in constructing worthy folk and atmospheric pieces, their attempts to rock out didn’t wash with many punters.
Their confusion may only be temporary as they solidify their style after losing lead singer Darren Robinson last year, so lets hope it sways towards their true strength.
Adam Connors
