#15 Lawrence Arabia, Golden Dawn

15 November 2017

Another gig at another venue with an uncertain future. The King's Arms may one day be an apartment block, and Golden Dawn is closing in a few months' time.

So it feels just that little bit more important to get to a gig there tonight before it becomes another memory. 

At the Others Way festival, Lawrence Arabia wore a green shalwar kameez, tonight it's something more out of the K-Mart catalogue in a pink jumpsuit. And tonight it's just the man himself, performing solo and selling the best tea towel ever. 

In the tightly packed intimacy of a small venue, he traverses songs from across his albums. It seems these days that a solo act is not complete without a looper, and he deploys this well to create layers of vocal harmony, rhythm and multiple instruments. And damn he's talented. 

He brings many qualities to his songs, a mix of wry, vulnerable, self conscious, cutting, honest and funny, often all mixed in the same track.  

Lawrence gets a warm reception and the crowd are happy to oblige his request to provide rhythmic interplay through clapping and vocals - although apparently a Tauranga reviewer compared him to Nazi leaders for trying it out there. 

It's an engaging evening from someone with a fine array of talents and whose own originality shines through in every track.