08 June
2012
It was a dark and stormy night, but inside the Kimberley Hotel, those who braved the intense cold were rewarded with a lovely laid-back evening courtesy of Benguela, Sannie Fox and Gary Thomas.
Though I knew of them, I’d never seen Benguela before, and though they were unfortunately without their bassist, I still really enjoyed Alex Bozas and (the night’s only drummer) Ross Campbell‘s jazzy instrumentals.
They also set the tone for the rest of the night – people were sitting cross-legged on the floor, listening intently and watching in silence, a phenomenon I’ve witnessed rarely enough and never before at the Kimbo.
Up next was Machineri‘s ever-impressive Sannie Fox, whose bluesy lullabies kept the seated crowd transfixed.
I’d heard Gary Thomas’ name around, most notably once while I was killing time in Mabu Vinyl and overheard a really foreign sounding guy asking if they sold his CDs because he’d seen him live and really liked him. This, along with the array of instruments on stage (2 acoustic guitars, an electric mandolin, a bow and a stomp box) had me pretty keen to see him.
He didn’t disappoint – a really nice voice and interesting alt-folk tracks with that serious, slightly uncomfortable singer-songwriter delivery – I enjoyed his set a lot.
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Gary Thomas | Machineri | Benguela
