G Love and Special Sauce at the Zoo

It looks like Whitley is going to have a hard time converting the Zoo crowd to his blend of folky music. The crowd is quickly filling in as the Melbourne muso starts up. The audience seems to be too busy cramming as many alcoholic beverages into themselves to pay attention to the lovely sounds coming from the man and his guitar. The arrival of Whitley’s drummer and bass player proves to be a definite turning point. Ears prick up and many begin to pay attention to the cruisy vocals and well-crafted songs of Whitley. In parts it does feel as though the band isn’t as tight as they should be, but this thought is quickly pushed aside with the enthusiasm shown by the entire band. “Lost in time” was a highlight of the set, however the biggest surprise came from a simply amazing Björk cover. Picking it up for the ending and leaving a high hillbilly note Whitley may have been an odd choice as support, but defiantly a talented musician.

G-Love has always confused me. A lanky white-boy trying to combine rap, blues, folk and pop into a mash that somehow works. And it sure is popular tonight. After the consumption of many, many beverages, the crowd seems to be mainly made up of bleached hair, surf labels and suntans indicating that much of tonight’s crowd are coastal surfer guys and girls. G-Love has made a name for himself by creating summer hits with grooves that have listener’s bopping along in the car on a road trip in the sun, or at least daydreaming about doing so.

Tonight he has the crowd in the palm of his hand. The heat in the Zoo is stifling with more sweaty bodies rubbing up against each other than is surely hygienic. G-Love certainly is an energetic performer jumping from one side of the stage to the other, standing on speakers and slapping hands with screaming girls and guys in awe. Showcasing mainly songs from his latest album, the crowd seem not to care that for most of them they don’t know the words, they are just all caught up in the groove. After a lengthy wait, the encore brings the songs that G-Love is so popular for. Rodeo Clowns and Cold Beverage have the crowd singing along and an amazing harmonica solo to close have this room of fans spilling out onto the street into the night still dancing.

Photo Gallery

Photography by Richard Wilson.

Photos from The Zoo show. Includes photographs of G-Love and opener Whitley.