Dan Sultan @ Metro Theatre

“He needs a Fisherman’s Friend,” I overheard the girl next to me say. And she was right. Dan Sultan’s voice was scratchy and a little bit worn, but it didn’t matter – he was working it, the hoarseness even adding a certain old-school Johnny Cash sexiness to the bluesy, country sound he’s famous for. Whatever it was, the crowd was pumped and hanging off every word Sultan had to offer.

Prior to Sultan taking the stage, Jan Skubiszewski AKA Way Of The Eagle played a DJ set that left plenty to be desired, but Stonefield held their own, opening their energetic set with ‘Black Water Rising’. Gaining fans with their tambourine-banging, hip-shaking moves, the sisters powered through several tunes from their EPs and self-titled debut album including ‘Through The Clover’, ‘Put Your Curse On Me’ and ‘To Whom It May Concern’. While all the girls killed it throughout their set, it was the sultry, soulful, older-than-her-years voice of Amy Findlay that captured the audience’s attention, alongside several standout solos by bassist Holly Findlay that straight up rocked the room.

Wooing the full house with songs from his third and latest album Blackbird, including ‘The Same Man’ and ‘Loving’s Just For Fools’, it was Dan Sultan’s old favourites like ‘Old Fitzroy’ and ‘Come Home Tonight’ that had the fans singing, howling and stomping the night away. Between the raw riffs and toe-tapping soul rock tunes, Sultan discussed the reasons for his extended time between records (“I had to make a few changes and get my shit together, basically”) and admitted that, yes, he was sick and his backstage stash of “Soothers, throat lozenges and ginger tea” were anything but rock’n’roll. But hey, he still sounded on song – so let the good times roll.