One of WA’s finest exports, Stella Donnelly brought all her biting commentary and effortless charm to her headline Perth Festival show at Fremantle’s B-Shed.

Kicking off the night was Alexia Parenzee. Occasionally overpowered by the crowd noise and questionable acoustics of the semi-outdoor, high-ceiling venue, her gentle folk nonetheless washed over the crowd pleasantly. Parenzee’s sweet vocals coupled nicely with the slow shuffling rhythms of her backing band, making for an inspired opening act choice.

(All images used in this article were taken by Danica Zuks and supplied by Perth Festival)

Stella Donnelly kicked off her set with five or so of arguably her most cutting and hectic songs. While opener ‘Grey’ is a stirring heartbreaker of a track, ‘Mechanical Bull’, ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ and ‘Beware of the Dogs’ are full of righteous anger and were delivered with intensity in solo and duo form. Donnelly apologised for not fitting the Friday night vibe, but I don’t think anyone was complaining. Even as the rest of her band filed on stage, Donnelly didn’t lose sight of her targets, even calling out Festival sponsor Woodside in a truly cathartic moment for every climate-concerned attendee.

After the four other band members joined Donnelly on stage, the mood shifted to become noticeably more upbeat. ‘Old Man’ brought about a huge singalong, while new songs and set highlights ‘Underwater’ and Flood’ fitted in seamlessly with her older material, hinting at a keys-based new direction for her freshly completed second album.

As always, Stella Donnelly was a gracious and giving performer, sprinkling in moments of pure joy and hilarity with her darker moments. This was well received by what was surely the largest (but nonetheless relatively spread out) crowd I have been in since pre-pandemic days; ‘Die’ was accompanied by brilliantly corny choreography that much of the crowd joined in on, while her covers of ‘Love is in the Air’ and ‘Time After Time’ (the latter accompanied by Alexia Parenzee) were shouted back in return. After accepting the calls for an encore, Donnelly fielded requests from the audience and settled on an old favourite, ‘Mean to Me’. As that song says, Donnelly is ‘eager to please’, and she certainly succeeded.