I was lucky enough to get to shoot and review Daniel Johnston at the metro theatre last Thursday. I am a massive Daniel Johnston fan and the gig was truly memorable. It was his first and potentially only Australian tour. For the full pictorial rundown head over to The Dwarf photo gallery.
This is a promise with a catch
Only if you’re looking will it find you
‘Cause true love is searching too
But how can it recognize you
Unless you step out into the light?
But don’t give up until
True love finds you in the end.
My review for The Dwarf:
There was a buzz of anticipation in the air as people gathered outside the metro, and rightfully so – Daniel Johnston is at once considered an obscure oddity and one of the most influential indie musicians of the past decades. His name is not all that familiar to most yet he has inspired a glut of musicians from Sonic Youth and Nirvana to Beck. The 2005 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston re-introduced this enigmatic performer to a new generation of devotees – of die hard fans who know just how lucky they are to be seeing the reclusive and troubled singer on his first and possibly only Australian tour.
In first support slot are Kid Sam who fluctuate from some calm and melodic repetitive riffs to heavy fuzz in a matter of moments. Their sound is tight and well-rehearsed with just the right amount of grit and tension to keep you interested. There’s a pretty good sized crowd for an early opener and Kid Sam play their current radio spinners “Down to the cemetery” and their final track of the evening “We’re mostly made of water”.
Early attendees were then treated to a half an hour blackout and venue evacuation! Everyone pretty much continued to converse and order drinks lit by approximately three light bulbs before being ushered out onto the street to entertain visions of a potentially candle lit acoustic set by Daniel Johnston. The venue was powered back up in around half an hour.
Old Man River took to the stage to play a few of their own tunes (before returning as Johnston’s backing band). Opening with a lovely sitar solo, the band launch into some slightly psychedelic, India-inspired sounds accompanied by colourful visuals projected onto the stage. The vast majority of songs however, “Sunshine” being the perfect example, are pure feel-good pop.
Daniel Johnston’s set is easily characterised by not only the beautiful simplicity and honesty of Johnston’s songs, but the absolute adoration of the crowd – the front row is wielding hand made posters of frogs saying “Hi How Are You” and “True Love Will Find You in the End” and between each song the crowd are as reverential as church goers as they hang on Johnston’s every word (and very few they are).
Johnston begins solo, before being joined by a guitarist and then eventually Old Man River as the backing band. Johnston flicks through his song book – a white folder filled with plastic sheets containing his prolific outpouring of songs, the folder is labelled with his name on the front. His hands alternate between clenched fists that hang by his side to gripping the side of his pants as his arms shake, at times uncontrollably. Each audience member is acutely aware of the struggles Johnston has faced with mental instability throughout his life, and as he sings of loneliness, vulnerability and lost love the crowd responds with unconditional love and idolisation. Johnston’s songs are so brutally earnest that it would be impossible not to be able to relate to them, they are completely unselfconscious which is the key to why Johnston’s songs have inspired and touched generations of musicians and fans.
The tracks are a prefect mix of new and old tracks with older tracks “Some things last a long time” and “Speeding Motorcycle” wedged between tracks from the new album Is And Always Was such as “WIthout You”, “Freedom”, “Mind Movies” and “Fake Records of Rock and Roll”. The crowd sings along to most songs, with a big response to The Beatles covers “Revolution” and “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” (Johnston is a massive Beatles fan and clearly so are the audience).
Everyone revels in Johnston’s voice warbles, off-kilter sense of rhythm and quirky keyboards and guitar riffs, and is treated to an odd little story – Johnston recounts a dream in which a man was sentenced to death for attempting to commit suicide, he then realised the man in the dream was him and he was at the back of the courtroom screaming NO, NO, NO. He later jokes that unfortunately we’ve already heard the one joke of the show.
Johnston plays a one-song encore, and that’s really all that’s needed when it’s an acoustic version of “True Love Will Find You In The End”. I’m not even sure what I can say about this song, tears welled up in my eyes and I’m sure that everyone else left with the same warm fuzzy feeling inside that I had.
