Prita Grealy @ Clancy's, January 8th

Dropping into my local, who am I to find, but one of Freo's finest up and coming musicians, Prita Grealy.

Clancy’s is one of those pubs that on the outskirts screams ‘seedy old man’s bar’, but inside you're greeted warmly by the scruffy bartenders and you feel less than obliged to drink, but feel it only suitable as you find your old groove in that couch in the back corner. Then you somehow find yourself stumbling out at midnight, thinking to yourself you were going to have a quiet one, but once again Clancy’s has sucked you in, and you feel all the better for it. This feeling is only enhanced by some local, original talented musicians, with few better than our headliner this particular night, Prita Grealy. By the time Grealy was on stage Freo's last 'real' pub was suitably humid and the crowd marinated to perfection by support acts Sian Brown and Maera Paki. Brown, the better of the two, delivered her quirky little diddys, whilst Paki gave a well resounded, but what seemed a somewhat standoffish performance.

Grealy opened with 'Red Wine', a favourite amongst the regular punters. For those of you who don't know, Prita Grealy has been writing her own music in Fremantle for a few years, supporting popular local bands such as Dave Mann collective. Whilst the strum, strum, sing, sing folk musician is part of the furniture in most pubs around Australia, at least certainly Fremantle, Grealy also uses her voice, her greatest asset, together with a loop pedal and at times a stomp box to create a sort of one-man-band, or should I say woman, in order to create her own flavour of folk. It is this innovation that sets Prita apart from the other folk musicians in the local scene, and it’s this point of difference that will hopfully see the success of her new disc to be released in the next twelve months.

The crowd's spirits rose as Prita introduced 'Mellow', the first song of the evening to incorporate her unique use of the loop pedal. The combination of guitar and looped vocals a brilliant compliment to the well crafted familiar story of wasting time feeling blue. This was closely followed by a song about our friend, the ‘Wharfie’, a regular at every Freo pub, there to hear and tell us the blues of day-to-day life or take us on the rollercoaster journeys of their own lives. Familiar stories such as these are what make Grealy so popular amongst local crowds, in a town like Fremantle, familiarity is an unbreakable bond between musician and punter, and is essentially why musicians such as Grealy can draw a crowd from such a small population by doing what they love. The next song 'I Got The Fire' was the musical highlight of the evening, giving the crowd insight into her ability to combine several vocal loops along with rhythmic stomp box loops, adding significant depth to an already soulful tune.

Grealy retired to the safety of her guitar and a few more loops for the most part of the mid section, treating the crowd to some newer tunes and some golden oldies. The set rounded out with a mouthful of scotch to see some of Grealy's best tales of love, both 'Whiskey Heart' and 'I Want You For Myself' pulling the crowd in as she told of both lost love and a love everlasting, universal themes that comforted the crowd for a close to the set. It didn't take the much convincing for an encore, Grealy not even taking time to come off stage between songs to finish with 'Before Goodbye', a more than appropriate tune to leave the more than grateful crowd.

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