Pete Fidler, a dobro player teamed with a guitarist and a double bass, music very dobro-y. Pleasant but not overly memorable, and I thought the band wasn't as tight as a unit as it might've been. Then Sal Kimber, a skinny bundle of energy who reminded me a bit of Jen Cloher and a bit of Justine, and had some very good songs and a great way of selling them, alternating between banjo and guitar and backed by a full band (guitar, bass, drums, keys). Her thing was a kind of blues-folk-rock-pop thing, and a lot of fun. And finally Fireside Bellows, ordinarily a two piece but joined on stage by a couple of others to flesh out their sound, which is a somewhat but not overly contemporised take on the cosmic/high and lonesome thing, the m & f harmonies and way of writing songs evoking Gram and Emmylou - they were very winning and I liked 'em a lot.
(w/ Wei)
