Angus and Julia Stone

I'm officially in love with Julia Stone. How could I not be? She's the life and light in the room, dancing and twirling like a child and breathing a soft, magical energy into the Corner tonight.

But that was later.

Opening act The Orange Bird didn't seem like much when I first walked into the crowded pub, but within minutes they had wowed me into scouring their name all over MySpace when I got home (they don't have one....drag). Their indie folk sensibilities were often either savoured into cute little ditties about nursery rhymes, or dashed to the rocks in favour of a hard blues rock vein. Keyboardist Eleasha transposed between bashing on the keys to dancing and dress-twirling centre stage. She had the crowd's whole and undivided attention when she twisted and rocked about the stage, I decided she was the lovebaby of Robert Plant and a burlesque dancer from 1934. But, as quickly as the folk magic had come, they unleashed 'Altona Blues' on us: a gritty, driving song about...well, you get it. Consider me converted to the Church of Orange Bird.

Angus and Julia Stone finally take the fairy-lit botanical stage and open with 'Wasted' from the sublime album A Book Like This. As I mentioned, Julia's divine spirit wafts over the audience like perfume and, apart from the odd bogan lush (why are they there? did they pay to get into a gig they would ruin and shout through??) they were immersed. 'Private Lawns' was a treat for I and my accompanying friend (read: big Calamity Jane fans) and Julia surprised me by not only being an aficionado on the vox and piano, but now trumpet. Is there no end to this girl's savvy?

Eleasha of Orange Bird took stage once again to join the duo on 'The Beast' which, for all of it's simplicity, does not fail to knock the crowd right out. Angus, quiet young lad he may be, is docile as a lamb during the between-song banter, but come the opening of any song, he immediately trasnforms into a choir boy. A timid but powerfully soul-ed artist capable of leaving a room flattened by his vocal projection. He performs Bella and Julia's accompanying dancing has all eyes on stage and all ears wi-i-i-de open.

They perform newbie 'Suzanne' which I would've enjoyed a whole lot more if the scantily-clad young things in front of me hadn't spent most of the song taking photos of themselves MySpace-style. Again, I had to ask: why were they there? And why are they always situated in front of me at every fucking gig??. Seriously, if you're gonna come to a gig, especially one as moving and heartfelt as thus, don't take "candid" flash photography in front of me: you're not cool, you may have a thousand and ten friends on MySpace but nobody at the Corner likes you tonight.

Aaaaanyway, a real treat came when Angus and Julia launched into a cover of Chumbawumba's 'Tubthumping' (you know it: "I get knocked down but I get up again, you're never gonna keep me down" etc). I was skeptical at first, but it turns out their Midas touch once again worked wonders, and they turned the pub-rock anthem into a jazzy, folk number. Brilliant.

What makes me love these guys is their frank down-to-earthness: they don't carry that egotistic, larger-than-life malarky *coughJETcough* and they genuinely appeal to the audience on an affable level. At one point, Julia called a friend of hers in Adelaide and asked the crowd to sing happy birthday to her. At another, she called for the audience to sing along with their gorgeous beach-ballad 'Another Day'. And you can't help but join in! You just can't!

They finished the night with the tasty 'Chocolate and Cigarettes' and 'Mango Tree' (suffice to say, I was starving as I left) and, like the Grinch I am, my heart grew three sizes (maybe two, some strange drunk kept leering at us from the bar, eugh). The cool night air, Angus and Julia in my head and cold beer on tap: another day in paradise.

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