Darren Hanlon - The Globe (August 7)

13 August 2010 by Richard Wilson

Darren Hanlon might hail from Pomona a couple of hours north of Brisbane, but like every famous New Zealand expat Australia has claimed as our own, Hanlon is Brisbane's son. And the few times a year he passes by this way are greeted with fanfare from his devout following, as was the case last Saturday night when he played to a full Globe Theatre crowd.

Touring this time with a motley crew of musicians consisting of longtime sidekick Cory Grant on keys and trumpet, former Lucksmiths bassist Mark Monnone, Triple J presenter Steph Hughes and opening act Shelley Short on backing vocals and acoustic guitar, Hanlon has crafted a tight show that showcases much of his music of the past decade. And judging by the cavalcade of singalongs with the crowd, the audience was well-versed in everything Hanlon.

Featuring a mix of new and old, it was hearing material from Hanlon's latest album I Will Love You At All fleshed out on stage that served as the backbone of the show. Butterfly Bones and Scenes From A Separation well and truly lived up to their studio incarnations, the duet All These Things evoking a great response off the back of strong radio play. Folk Insomnia elicited no shortage of snickers from the crowd in all the right places, and Hanlon revealed the touching Home to be inspired by a fight he was in on Christmas Eve 1991.

Old favourites from Hanlons past filled in the blanks; Falling Aeroplanes and A to Z standing out, but newer tracks like Electric Skeleton and Elbows offering just a taste of a catalogue that ranges from ridiculous to romantic. It was however a new track that stole the night; prefacing it by mentioning it was a song he wrote  as a challenge to see if he could write a complete song in a day about the most boring topic possible -- missing the bus -- and the result was a magical narrative about the number seventeen, set in the middle of nowhere in Oregon, Hanlon's recording base in the US.

There's two things you can always expect from a Darren Hanlon show: great songs, and great rapport with the crowd. Hanlon is always enaging, always interested in what the audience has to say and always armed with the perfect response. It was with a host of great songs and stories that Darren Hanlon charmed a full house at Brisbane's Globe Theatre.

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