Last night brought Folk Bitch Trio to Melbourne’s iconic Fed Square.
The event, part of Open Air in the square and in partnership with Fever, saw Folk Bitch Trio take to the stage surrounded by candles as the sun was setting for this special free performance.
Folk Bitch Trio have had a huge year. They released their album, Now Would Be a Good Time, to critical acclaim, received multiple Aria nominations, about to head off on European and US tours pretty soon, and their last Melbourne headline gig was to a sold out Corner Hotel, so to have the opportunity to see them for free for this hometown show was pretty incredible.
The trio, consisting of Grace Sinclair, Jeanie Pilkington, and Heide Peverelle, were supported by an extended band for the show. They played for around an hour performing most of the tracks from Now Would Be A Good Time, including popular tunes Cathode Ray, Moth Song and God’s a Different Sword. It was also great to see older track Analogue make the set list and a live performance of their cover of The Boys Next Door’s Shivers.
The band were on good form, on what I think is only their second live show of the year. I appreciated the balance they struck between being genuinely excited to be performing but not shying away from acknowledging the problems in the world right now (although i am getting a bit over queer women doing most of the heavy lifting on this so i will be calling out the next straight male artist I watch who can’t be bothered to do this).
The evening itself had a really special feel. It was lovely to be somewhere that was such a contrast to the previous evening’s gig, the event was really well set up with larger screens to watch the show dotted around, and it was the perfect level of busy – with much of the square being full but not overwhelmingly cramped. Sitting listening to FBT’s modern folk songs while the stars gently emerged above us was really lovely. Now would be a good time was one of my favourite releases from last year and there was definitely a moment where I took a breath, looked around and got a little emotional about how lucky I am to have this life!
Find out more about Folk Bitch Trio here.