Gig Review: Third Time A Charm - Seeing Madeleine Peyroux in Concert is Always Special, But This Was The Very Best. And What A Band!

I'm bringing gig reviews back. I was burntout and no one pays for gig reviews. When you read them in newspapers they're thin, and just marketing. But I want to reflect on the journey. Tell the story.

Mar 20, 2023

Madeleine Peyroux

The Opera House, Wellington

Thursday, March 16

Madeleine Peyroux released her debut album in 1996. It’s a throwback to Billie Holiday, and it's a modern classic – I’m sure of both of those things. Yet, Peyroux is not a household name. In fact, that might have been all we knew of Madeleine Peyroux, just a lucky few of us – for she disappeared sometime during the promo run for that album, disillusioned, distraught; she turned up busking on the streets of France and was rediscovered – her sophomore release Careless Love (2004) introducing her to a larger audience. And as good as everything has been since (she has such a knack for a cover, she writes great tunes too) Careless Love remains the benchmark.

So, on this tour, she is paying tribute to that album – the record company had recently celebrated it with a deluxe edition, though you wouldn’t know it to be at the show. No real mention of it, beyond the announcement that most of the songs would come from the album, and no merchandise at all. This is the class of Madeleine Peyroux. She is there to sing for you. To take from her soul, to give of her heart, to serve these very fine songs. This was about the intimate connection between strangers – as Peyroux mentioned more than once: We were there with one thing in common, we wanted to share in the experience.

Helping Madeleine to share, and brimming with experience, was her phenomenal band. If you were a reluctant “Plus 1” dragged along to the show, you’d have surely been able to come away with an appreciation for a type of jazz based purely on the abilities of the backing band.

Industry stalwarts all, Andy Ezrin (keyboads), Graham Hawthorne (drums), and Bill Moring (bass) played with empathy, thought and dazzling skill, in fact – at every turn – they underplayed, exquisitely leaving room for Peyroux’s voice, and her own strong, acoustic guitar. Peyroux is a rhythm guitarist only, but she plays with poise and purpose, picking out moments from within melodies to accentuate.

It's a “lean in” type of show, all silence for the voice. We are being treated to a master musician, and there’s an authentic awkwardness to some of the stage banter too. Peyroux seems genuinely embarrassed to be American, to be an American in this world, and always in awe of the towering songbook she stands at the feet of; compositions by Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan and Allen Toussaint, standards made famous by Josephine Baker and Bessie Smith.

The subtle brushwork by Hawthorne meshed in with Moring’s anchoring bass to provide the backdrop for crowd favourites such as Dance Me To The End of Love and You’re Going To Make Me Lonesome When You Go, Ezrin’s piano playing dancing us through the music, a touch of Johnnie Johnson to his tinkle.

There was warmth every step of the way. I felt held by this music. I sat stunned. And this is the third time I’ve seen Peyroux. Three different shows, across three different tours – three different bands, with new albums to plug, all three show brilliant, but here I really felt the uniqueness of her approach. She is there to sing. To serve the songs. She is unmoved by the spectacle, forever grateful for the opportunity, a little awkward around connecting, so real, and so true.

It was fun to watch the audience leaving with a swing in their collective step, a little bit of chat outside the venue. So many of us so sure we’d witnessed something we might not ever see again: Real music being treated with the respect it deserves – from both band and audience. There’s something profound in this understated and caring approach.

Sounds Good!

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