PERTH FESTIVAL REVIEW: The power of words with Kate Tempest
Photos by Marnie Richardson
Chevron Lighthouse is the newest live music venue for Perth Festival. Just one spark to come from the giant brain of Artistic Director Iain Graindage, it's a mini festival site at the back of Perth Concert Hall, positioned so that from its elevated position you can see beyond the stage to the Swan River and the clear night sky.
On the night of the 16th of February, the Lighthouse played host to the unflinching honesty of Kate Tempest, and the emerging brilliance of Omar Musa. Omar is a poet and rapper from New South Wales who you should definitely check out if you haven’t.
Tempest arrived on stage without fanfare, announcing that she probably wouldn't talk much the rest of the evening but, as once she started the show she doesn’t stop, she wanted us to know she wasn't a robot. As if we could think such things about someone who so perfectly captures the imperfect beauty of this world. She was right though - the next hour and a half was one track, one poem after another until she was spent.
Tempest wrung every emotional nuance from every word. Her versatility with the spoken word meant that as each track rolled into the next, subtle changes to her cadence made some become raps, some poetry, some sung. ‘I Trap You’ from her latest album Book of Traps and Lessons got the biggest shouts of agreement from the lovers in front of me, while ‘Circles’ was - as it always was going to be - the crowd pleaser of the night. By the time she reached the zenith with her latest single ‘Firesmoke’ the crowd were ready to be swept away in this sea of emotion she had created.
Tempest has used words to explore the issues of our times since Everybody Down. Each album stands on it’s own, but heard together these songs become a lyrical manifesto for a life truly worth living.
